


Ruined with you

by TheGabbing



Series: My Miraculous Fanfiction [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Canon Compliant, DJWifi, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I suppose, Identity Reveal, Secret Identity, Slow Build, Slow Burn, eventually i'll learn to tag, fluff?? i mean eventually, for like 0.1 second, gonna keep the old ones too, idk if its even going to get a happy ending, in the background so i didnt wanna tag it as relationship cause thats just exhaustingly annowing, some updated tags after this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-30 22:25:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 39,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6444427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGabbing/pseuds/TheGabbing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years since her graduation. Two years since she and Chat captured Hawkmoth. Two years since she ruined Adrien Agreste's life. And two years since she saw Chat Noir. </p><p>Wracked with guilt after revealing Adrien's father was Hawkmoth, Marinette gave up anything she could have had for Adrien. She threw herself into her dream of becoming a fashion designer, ignoring her guilt and regret for what could have been with both Chat Noir and Adrien. But when he comes back to Paris unexpectedly, Marinette finds herself back into a tense friendship with Adrien.</p><p>Navigating a friendship, and perhaps something more, with the boy whose life you ruined, is easier said than done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Warming Your Seat

To be fair, Marinette didn’t expect anybody to flirt with her… well, at least not this much. Considering how Alya constantly dragged her out to party or go to a club, Marinette was used to politely turning down guys. While, sure, there were times when the guy wouldn’t take no for an answer, Alya was always there to back her up. Except for this one time and really, it had to be on the same day that Nino and Adrien were at the same club they were at.

Because Adrien and Nino went overseas after high school, Adrien for modeling, and Nino for music, Alya and Marinette lost touch with them. Nino had become so busy with his music and Alya and Marinette in their own respective career paths that they rarely, if ever, talked on facebook. Marinette was sure that Alya had probably kept in some contact with Adrien, but after what had happened with Hawkmoth’s capture, she couldn’t even think about Adrien without feeling sick to her stomach.

Nino had saw Alya and Marinette in passing while getting drinks and instantly went over to them to talk to them. He had mentioned that Adrien was wandering around somewhere in the club before Alya dragged him off dancing. Marinette could see them on the edge of the dance floor, jumping around and swinging their hips. Honestly, she found the whole idea dizzying, but she was happy Alya had someone to dance with.

It wasn’t until the man who had taken Alya’s spot beside her talked did she realize he was there. “Hey there, sweetheart.”

Marinette turned to face the man. He couldn’t have been much older than her, and while she was sure he was a nice guy, Marinette didn’t feel like talking tonight. So, politely, Marinette smiled and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s my friend’s spot.” She hoped it would be enough of a gentle nudge to let him know that she didn’t want to talk or be hit on.

Obviously, it was not. The man seemed to scowl for a second before leaning over the table to get closer to her. Marinette could feel herself lean away from him, nose curling at the stench of hard liquor on his breath. “Oh come on, darling, I don’t mean any harm. Just wanted a dance.”

Again, smiling kindly, Marinette laughed, more attempting to diffuse the awkwardness she felt than anything else. “I’ve got two left feet, sorry. I don’t dance.”

Yet, this man wouldn’t take no for an answer. His hand started to move to grab hers, which was on the table, and she quickly yanked it off. She gave him a tense smile and said again, “Really though, my friend is coming back any second now, he’s going to need his spot back.” Marinette attempted to fake that her friend was a man, hoping it would make him back off. The second she said _he_ though, his scowl deepened.

“I thought this spot was for that friend over there,” He said, his thumb jerking over to Alya’s direction. Marinette gulped and she tried to scramble for an answer, attempting to see if maybe she needed to run towards Alya just to get him off her back. Just as she was about to get up and walk to Alya, a hand curled around her waist from her left side and she felt somebody kiss the top of her forehead.

She tensed, ready to grab her pepper spray, until she heard the person’s voice, “Sorry, I’m late, my Lady, I hope Alya kept you company.” It sounded incredibly similar to Chat Noir’s voice. Breathing in and thanking every deity under the sun, she leaned into the body beside her.

“Oh, he was warming up your seat.” Marinette replied to the mystery man now holding her hip. The man across from them huffed and got off of Alya’s chair, storming away to probably another girl who didn’t want his attention. Marinette let off a huge sigh of relief and let her head fall to the table. The man’s arm dropped from her waist immediately.

“I am so sorry, Marinette. You just looked so tense and I figured you wanted him gone so I didn’t think and I –” Marinette picked up her head to see Adrien sitting across from her and she felt something inside her get disappointed. Of course she knew her savior wasn’t really Chat Noir. She hadn’t seen him for two years… not since they captured Hawkmoth and he left without saying goodbye. Not that she would know if it was him anyways, considering they kept their identities a secret.

Marinette waved her hand to let him know it was alright. Her mind was still half on the thought of Chat, wondering what he had been doing for the past two years, and she couldn’t bring herself to pay much attention to Adrien. If Alya knew what she was thinking, she would have been pestering her over being so enraptured by another guy when her childhood crush had literally just pretended to be her boyfriend but she didn’t care. She had long since given up anything was ever going to happen with Adrien, knowing that she would feel a looming guilt every time she was with him. If they hadn’t captured Hawkmoth when they did, Marinette might have even confessed her attraction to Chat. She sighed and took a slow sip from her glass of water, wishing she wasn’t the designated driver so she could drink something a little stronger.

“I’m just thankful you came when you did,” Marinette said as she set her glass back down on the table. Adrien sighed, his shoulders visibly relaxing.

“Yeah, good thing I went searching for where Nino went. Which, by the way, where –” Before Adrien could finish his sentence, Marinette jerked her thumb over to where Nino and Alya were dancing. Well… Technically, they had given up on the dancing and just decided to make out heavily on the dance floor. She wouldn’t be surprised if they disappeared for a couple hours. Adrien chuckled slightly, “At least it finally happened. Nino couldn’t stop moaning about missing Alya while we were in America.”

“Is that why you two came back?” Marinette asked.

He bit his lip and Marinette could see something going on deeper behind his eyes but couldn’t quite place the emotion. “Uh… Partly. My dad… he wanted to see me.”

“Oh…” Marinette whispered. Her hands clasped around the glass, feeling an intense new wave of regret wash over her. Hawkmoth had ended up being Gabriel Agreste. As soon as she had taken his Miraculous away from him, Hawkmoth transformed back into himself. Chat Noir left before the police got there and when she went to Master Fu, Chat’s ring was there. Marinette didn’t take long to follow but always regretted never revealing her identity to him before they caught Hawkmoth.

Adrien hummed across the table from her, an awkward silence settling between them. Marinette stayed silent, afraid to say something that would offend him. How could she ever comfort him when she was the reason why his father was in prison?

Hands slammed down on the table, startling Marinette and Adrien out of their silence. Alya was standing at the table, her hair mused and a blissed out Nino at her side. “Do you mind if I take the apartment tonight?”

Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes. “No… It’s fine. I’ll bother Juleka and Rose to let me crash on their couch.”

Nino instantly started waving his hands frantically. “Nah! Marinette, you can go back with Adrien and sleep in my bed, yeah! Least I can do,” Nino said, giggling to himself as he leaned onto Alya.

She quickly looked across to Adrien, about to protest Nino’s other, but Adrien just smiled at her, “Yeah, that sounds good to me.”

Sighing, knowing arguing would get her nowhere, she nodded. “Yeah… Okay, you two have fun.”

Alya and Nino were already stumbling away after she uttered the word _yeah_. Adrien laughed at the two of them wandering away. Marinette only smiled, still feeling an unshakable guilt in her gut as she looked across at the boy whose life she ruined.


	2. Could Have Kept Fighting

Marinette knocked loudly on her apartment door before she opened it a crack. “You guys decent?” She called out into the apartment. She heard an annoyed snort before the door was fully opened by Alya.

Nino walked around the corner from the kitchen and kissed Alya on the cheek. Stepping aside to let him out, Marinette smiled as he waved her goodbye and walked to the elevator. Marinette raised her eyebrows at her best friend and made a suggestive face. “Have fun, did you?”

“Oh shut it.” Alya grumbled before grabbing her and pulling her inside the apartment. The door shut behind her and Alya let out the loudest squeal. Marinette sighed but couldn’t help but smile at her best friend’s excitement. She knew Alya had started thinking about Nino during high school. The only reason why she hadn’t pursued it was because of what happened with… well… everything.

Marinette leaned on the wall and took of her shoes before walking to the kitchen to get herself some coffee. She rushed out of the Nino’s hotel room so fast, that she didn’t even have time to gather herself. She was positive it looked like she was doing the walk-of-shame to anybody who saw her. Though, she oddly preferred being thought of like that than risking the chance of having to talk to Adrien any more than she did. It was awkwardly quite the entire drive back to the hotel with only rough questions of what things have been happening since they last saw each other. Marinette could barely talk to him without thinking about the fact that she had ruined his life.

Her best friend sighed behind her before walking over and kissing Marinette on the cheek while she was grabbing a coffee cup. “Sweetie, you don’t know how thankful I am. How did things go with you and Adrien?”

“I left this morning before I saw him. I couldn’t even look at him properly, Alya. He came back just to see his dad! What am I supposed to say? _Oh, by the way, I’m Ladybug and threw your dad in jail._ ” Marinette grumbled.

Alya squeezed her shoulder. “That wasn’t your fault. What were you going to do, Marinette, just let Hawkmoth run rampant?”

“I don’t know!” Marinette whined. Turning towards the coffee pot, she poured herself a cup and began to walk to the living room. “I could have. Chat Noir and I could have… we could have just kept fighting Akumas.”

“Oh please, Marinette. You barely had time in high school to fight Akumas, like hell you could have fought them now.” Alya said as she sat down at the other end of the couch Marinette was on. She reached over to the coffee table and grabbed a lone coffee cup. “You did the right thing. You can’t blame yourself forever.”

Marinette hummed and took a large sip from her coffee cup. She could and she definitely would blame herself forever. Because she had jumped at the chance to capture Hawkmoth, she lost whatever she could have had with Adrien. Not to mention the fact that Chat Noir left her the second he could. Like he didn’t want to take any responsibility for it. “It would have been easier if I could talk to Chat Noir.”

“Oh, sweetie,” She said. Alya reached over and grabbed her coffee cup from Marinette’s hand and put them both on the table before gesturing for Marinette to come close. Stubbornly, she sighed as she moved into her best friends arms. After taking in a breath to calm herself, Marinette let Alya wrap her arms around her and run her hands through her hair. “I know you must miss him a lot.”

She closed her eyes and settled against Alya, enjoying her comfort. “I just wonder why he left me.”

 

* * *

 

Adrien took in a deep breath before knocking on the door across from his at the hotel. What he wasn’t expecting, was Nino to answer. His best friend had this enormous smile plastered on his face when he opened the door and it only grew wider when he saw the tray of food in Adrien’s hands.

“Dude! Food! Thanks, bro,” Nino said as he took the tray from Adrien. He turned back into his hotel room, leaving the door open for Adrien to shut behind him. Adrien opened his mouth and then shut it as he realized that Marinette wasn’t in the room. He must have missed her. Nino sat down at the table in the corner of the room and started eating the food that he had gotten for Marinette.

Shaking his head from the negative thoughts, he sat down across from his best friend and grabbed a piece of bacon from his plate to distract himself. Nino curled his nose at him in annoyance before swallowing the mouthful of food he had. “So, how did it go?”

He snorted and chuckled at Nino, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Nino smirked, more to himself than to Adrien, and wiggled his eyebrows. “Dude… it went so well.”

Adrien laughed loudly. “So she was exactly how you imagined in high school?”

“Oh, man… it was so much better. She was amazing. And, I’m not even talking about the sex, Adrien… though the sex was just really amazing and like, she did this –”

“Nope,” Adrien interrupted, “No, I don’t want to know that.” Nino shrugged as if it was his loss and continued taking apart his breakfast. Adrien waited for him to finish eating his bite of food before asking, “So you guys going to be a thing?”

He sighed and placed down his fork and knife. “Maybe. I don’t know. She told me she’d call me so I’m just going to wait. More importantly, dude, I heard you calling girls at the club _My Lady_ , I thought you gave up on that?”

“Only in America, Nino. She’s still out there,” Adrien mumbled. Every time he was in Paris, he would call girls who reminded him of Ladybug _My Lady_ , just to see if they reacted to it. So far, no luck. Grant, a lot of the time the girls he said that to just assumed he was trying to get in their pants, so most of the time it was negative reactions. He tried to grab another piece of bacon from Nino’s plate but he quickly slapped away his hand. Adrien frowned at his best friend and sighed. “Why did I have to be so stupid?”

Nino shrugged his shoulders, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with his best friend. “Pretty sure anybody in your situation would have done the same.” There was a long pause as Nino took a gulp of coffee before he awkwardly cleared his throat and said, “Speaking of… What does he even want to see you about?”

Adrien shrugged his shoulders, “No idea. I figure something about the company. He technically still runs it.”

“Do you need me there?” Nino asked. Adrien quickly shook his head.

“No, I think he’d take joy in me needing you there. Maybe… I don’t know, just keep an eye on your phone in case I need to get wasted after.”

Nino reached over the table and squeezed his best friends shoulder. “Don’t worry. I got you, bro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh I know, I know. Blah blah, late, blah blah, boring chapter. I know, but trust me, next one will be better because..... *drumroll* ADRIEN IS VISITING HIS DAD WOO. I mean not yay for him, but whatever, good writing material. Also, I plotted out this fanfiction now so I should have no problems getting it up on a weekly basis. Well not all of it is plotted but most, which is 17 chapters.... soooo.... 
> 
> Anyways, as always, I'm defectivegems on tumblr and I accept prompts. Please kudos, subscribe, bookmark, and comment to show the fic some love! Make sure to share it around as much as possible!


	3. You Don't Have the Right

Adrien flinched slightly as the prison door blared as it was opened. The guard beside him gestured him forward into the room and Adrien stepped through the door. Taking in a deep breath before walking further into the room, he attempted to gather himself. Across the room, his father was sitting at the metal table. His back was to Adrien so he couldn’t see him as he attempted to calm his nerves and for that he was glad. One wrong move and he just knew his father would pounce. He never was a nice man and being Hawkmoth reinforced that fact.

Clenching his fists one last time, he walked up to the table and sat down. His father didn’t speak as he sat across from him and Adrien stayed silent as well. It was his father who wanted to speak so Adrien refused to speak first. Gabriel sighed and clasped his hands in front of him, the handcuffs jangling against the table as he did so. He had very little ability to move about his hands, couldn’t even put them on is lap, only straight on the table or clasped. A guard to Adrien’s right coughed loudly and Gabriel unclasped his hands, barely sending an annoyed stare at the guard.

Well, apparently he wasn’t even allowed to do that.

With hands flat against the table, Gabriel looked at Adrien. “Hello, son.”

“You don’t have the right to call me that,” he said. Adrien refused to let his voice waver, or his eyes to leave his father. One sign of weakness, if he even showed one sign his father word worm his way in and break him… yet again.

His father hummed and nodded his head, “Adrien, then. How has modeling been for you overseas?”

Trying not to show a sign of annoyance, Adrien said clearly, “Normal.” He wanted to leave as soon as possible so there was no point in keeping up small talk. His father bristled with annoyance.

“Has the company been treating you –”

“Stop avoiding the subject. What do you want?” Adrien snipped. He was done with waiting for his father to get to the point of why he wanted to see him. Adrien watched the corner of his father’s lips prick up just slightly and he swore internally. The chase was over, his father had finally got what he wanted: Adrien’s anger. Sighing angrily, Adrien pushed himself from the table, “I’m leaving now.”

“I haven’t seen you in two years and you can barely spare two seconds with your father?” Gabriel asked.

Adrien clenched his fists in anger and shut his eyes tightly. “You are not my father.” Ignoring the snort that came from his father, Adrien walked around the table toward the door. It was a mistake for him to even come. He should have ignored his father’s request and stayed in America. Why did he even think it was a good idea?

The guard on the other side of the prison door motioned for the guard in the security room to unlock the door. Just as the door blared loudly and unlocked, Adrien heard his father laugh from where he was at a table. “You’ve never been able to stand up to me, Adrien, I suppose I shouldn’t have expected this meeting to be any different.”

Adrien’s fingers dug into his palms, and he reminded himself that confronting him about his words would do nothing. His father would never change his twisted view of him. Nothing Adrien could say would make his father see how wrong he was. His father laughed louder as Adrien walked down the hallway to leave the prison.

As soon as he was out of the prison, he texted Nino frantically. He really needed his friend right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a small chapter, I know. Next one will have more, I promise. I've got some pretty awesome fluff coming up next chapter and even more so the chapter after that. Also, I'm no longer posting the full thing on tumblr any more, makes no sense to since its going to be more than 17chp long. Instead it shall just be the links. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this.
> 
> As always, I'm Defectivegems on tumblr, i accept prompts, and kudos, bookmark, subscribe, and comment it you liked it!


	4. Not The Best

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... whoops?

Marinette watched her best friend’s face light up as Nino walked into the entrance of the park. She tried not to laugh as Alya practically jumped off the park bench to meet Nino. Alya gave Nino a quick hug and kissed his cheek at the entrance of the park before walking back to Marinette with him. It was as if they hadn’t seen each other in ages and yet they had seen each other yesterday.

She could see Nino blush just a little bit as Alya said some stuff to him and Marinette could only imagine what she was saying. Alya never did have a problem with her sexuality and Marinette only wished she was that confident in herself. When they walked up, she could see their hands touching ever so slightly and she couldn’t help but smirk at her friend. Alya gave her annoyed look, obviously trying to get her to stop, and Marinette pushed herself off the bench.

Reaching out to pull Nino in for a hug, Marinette said, “Nino! I’m so glad you’re in Paris.”

He laughed as he hugged her back. His hand patted her back before letting her go. “I missed you too, Marinette. I’m sorry I didn’t keep in contact with you.”

She shrugged her shoulders and stepped back from Nino, “Oh, that’s okay. I didn’t make an effort either. So how is your music going in America?”

“Great, actually. I’m making a name for myself. A lot of people come to clubs I’m playing at just to see me,” Nino explained. He grinned happily as he talked and Marinette smiled back at him. In a way, she was glad for what happened. She knew that Nino would never have gone to America on his own, and his success would have taken longer. Because of what happened, Nino was able to have his best friend at his side, even though it wasn’t under the best of circumstances.

Alya threw her arms over the both of them and laughed happily, “Now that we’ve done all that tedious catching up, there is ice cream to be had.”

Marinette and Nino rolled their eyes at each other but allowed Alya to lead them to the ice cream cart deeper into the park by the fountain. As they walked, Alya chatted about the newest story she was working on. Something about the anniversary of the appearance of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette stopped listening. Of course, she knew about the anniversary coming up, it was all anybody talked about. Alya was careful not to talk to Marinette about it that much when she first got the assignment but after she assured her best friend it was fine, Alya told anybody she could. She was very proud of herself, with every right to be. It was everything Alya ever wanted, to be an actual reporter writing about Chat and Ladybug, so Marinette didn’t mind very much.

When they got to the ice cream cart, they each ordered a cone of ice cream. Marinette continued to block whatever Nino and Alya were talking about as she watched the vendor scoop up ice cream into cones. He wrapped the cones in some foil-type wrapping before giving the cones to them. It was only when Alya nudged her shoulder as they walked away that Marinette tuned back into the conversation.

“So… Is the anniversary why you and Adrien are back? I mean… It’s the same anniversary of Hawk – Adrien’s dad’s capture,” Alya asked. Marinette instantly elbowed Alya’s side, trying to get her to shut up, but she just waved her off. Nino sort of paused in eating his ice cream.

Moving his cone from his mouth, he swallowed the ice cream he had in his mouth and shrugged. “Well… Sort of. Adrien’s dad… he sort of contacted him. Told him he wanted him to come visit. Something about the company.”

“Ah,” Alya said, nodding her head. She licked her ice cream, raising her eyebrows at Marinette before turning back to Nino, “How’s he doing, anyways? I mean, with the anniversary. A lot of people are praising Chat Noir and Ladybug for what they did.”

Marinette could see Nino’s shoulders tense as Alya talk. He seemed to be rather uncomfortable. “Hey, guys, why don’t we go over to that new bookstore across the street?” Marinette asked, her voice squeaking a little. She almost winced as she said so, it was so obvious that she didn’t want to talk about it.

Nino cleared his throat and visibly relaxed his shoulders, though his facial expression still seemed a little tense. “Well, yeah, I mean, why wouldn’t they?”

As they walked by a garbage can, Marinette tossed her ice cream cone, too uncomfortable to continue eating. When she turned back to her friends, she noticed they were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t even notice she stopped to throw out her ice cream. In a way, she was grateful because she really didn’t want to be around for the conversation.

She knew Alya meant well by it; she wanted to show Marinette that nobody blamed her, or specifically Ladybug, for what happened, but she always went about it the wrong way. Logically, Marinette knew no one blamed her. Nobody knew who Hawkmoth was, so how was Ladybug supposed to know. Even if she did, the benefits of capturing him far outweighed the negative side effects to capturing him.

But… she couldn’t help but feel that there was something she could have done differently. Something that could have been done to make it less… eventful.

Sighing to herself as she watched them walk away from her, she decided to leave them be. Turning around, Marinette started walking towards the bookstore she mentioned to the two of them earlier. Sure, she had said it originally to get Alya to back off but she really did actually want to check it out. Their website said they carried a lot of the obscure type of books Marinette gravitated towards and she needed new reading materiel since she only had one more exam this semester.

As she walked, she couldn’t help but notice the rather large statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir. They hadn’t taken it down since it was put up all those years ago. The artist, who she sort of dated last year, told her that the city gets him to fix it every time there is a chip or mark in the statue.

In a way, she understood why they kept the statue there, she and Chat did save Paris from a lot of trouble many times, but she was also annoyed. Chat Noir and Ladybug no longer existed, and their partnership certainly didn’t. Marinette knew she might be bias, however. She still couldn’t quite get over the fact that Chat had left her to deal with the fall out of capturing Hawkmoth. He had basically abandoned her. If she ever saw him again, she didn’t know what she would do.

Almost as soon as she turned the corner towards the bookstore, someone quickly brushed by her. She turned her head just in time to see his signature blonde hair peaking from his baseball cap and green eyes glancing over his sunglasses and she stopped.

“Adrien?” Marinette said, trying not to cringe at the awkward creak she had in her voice. Great, doing an awesome job of appearing normal so far. Not that she was normal in high school either.

He turned, shoulders tensed, but as soon as he saw it was Marinette, he relaxed. “Oh… I thought you were a fan for a second.”

Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed as Adrien spoke. His voice seemed an octave lower, almost as if he was on the verge of tears. Unable to stop herself, she stepped forward and gently placed her hand on his arm. “You alright?”

Adrien took in a deep breath and he pressed his lips together. “Ah. Yes? I don’t know. Maybe.”

“What happened?” Marinette immediately asked.

She could see Adrien’s hands clutch at his side and she almost wanted to pull down his sunglasses to check if he was crying or not. Of course, she knew she wouldn’t because that would be even weirder than her randomly prying into his life and people may recognize him.

“I saw my dad today and it was… not the best,” Adrien replied. She could hear a slight waver in his voice and almost felt the need to punch herself. Instead, she nodded her head, opened her arms, and gestured for Adrien to come closer to her.

He instantly pushed himself into her arms, his head resting on hers and his arms squeezing her tightly against him for comfort. Marinette squeezed him back. She could feel him shake just slightly in her arms and she squeezed just a bit harder. It felt as if Adrien was desperate for touch the way he just held onto her and pulled strength from her. Marinette couldn’t find it in herself to mind. It was the least she could do for him.

When he loosened his hold on her, Marinette followed suit and let her arms fall to his side. Adrien only took a step back from her but he kept one of his hands on her arm, almost to stabilize himself. “Thank you… I really needed that.”

Marinette smiled up at him and her heart skipped a beat at his smile. She really did not need herself to start crushing on him again. That was literally the last thing she needed. Quickly looking down at her own feet and stepping just slightly to the side so his hand fell off her arm, Marinette cleared her throat. “No problem. Ah… Alya and Nino are in the park, if you wanna…”

“Yeah… Yeah, that sounds great. Let’s go,” Adrien said instantly.

She couldn’t help but breathe a slight sigh of relief. At least she’d have Nino and Alya between them as a buffer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay hear me out. I really did not mean to abandon you guys for almost a month. BUT I HAVE REASONS!
> 
> I just started this new job and its super duper important that I do a good job because its basically a stepping stone in my career *cough cough journalism cough cough* so I kind of let things slide?? and at first I was just going to let my TV shows slide through the crack, and not watch as much... but then the job turned out to be really reeeeeally dang stressful. So I couldn't let that go otherwise I would literally have a mental break down... or more than I did.
> 
> I have a handle on it now. I understand things better and I'm getting back up soon! So It's all good..... but this wont be updated next week. >.


	5. Everybody Seems To Love Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH my gosh! Another chapter??? whaaat... finally lol. Read my end notes for some updates!

Adrien tried his best not to scare off Marinette this time. Well… as much as he could since he almost started to have a breakdown in her arms.

He didn’t know how Marinette could tell something was wrong. Of course he knew he sounded just slightly off, whenever he was on the verge of one of his breakdowns his voice would change just slightly, but Marinette hadn’t seen him in years. He looked down at her from the corner of his eye as they walked back into the park to find Alya and Nino. She was definitely something special.

Right after he let go of her, though, she seemed to be completely appalled by the idea of touching him, even lightly. She kept at least a foot of distance between them as they walked and whenever he so much as leaned into her space, she took a small step to keep the distance.

It hurt a little. He knew that a lot of people had felt weird around him after what happened with his father, but Marinette seemed to be odder than most during high school. She stopped talking to him completely. Apparently she still didn’t forgive him for what his father did, even if she did comfort him only a little while ago.

Sighing and letting his mind stop wandering off to the negatives of his life and focused on the positive. He had plenty of modeling jobs lined up with people he hadn’t seen in years. Chloe was coming back to Paris for a week just to see him, though she wouldn’t be here for another month. Nino was also pretty happy to be back, judging by the huge smile he had on his face as they walked up.

Adrien smirked at his friend and gestured to the corner of his lip, “I didn’t know you wore lipstick.”

Nino rubbed off the lipstick from the corner of his mouth and laughed, “Would you have offered me yours?”

“No, I would have helped you find your color. Like hell I would give you mine,” Adrien laughed. Alya raised her eyebrows at Adrien and he could tell that she was just trying to figure out what he looked with lipstick. Feeling a tad bit generous, he took out his phone from his pocket and opened up to his photos.

As soon as Adrien showed Alya one of his favorite photos, Alya’s eyes widened. He had to wear lipstick for a photoshoot of an androgynous clothing line and he hadn’t looked back. More often than not, he found himself putting on makeup for big events, though he loved lipstick the most.

Marinette shifted her body to see the screen of her phone and she nodded her head. “Oh, yeah, I remember that.”

“Remember it? You’ve been keeping an eye on me?” Adrien asked, nudging her side playfully.

A blush quickly flooded Marinette’s cheeks as she stuttered, “Ah, no… I mean… I’m hoping to go into design so I have to keep my eyes on different clothing lines and styles.”

Adrien nodded his head in understanding. That make much more sense than what he was thinking. There was no way she was just keeping an eye on him while he was overseas, that made no sense. Marinette coughed awkwardly and looked away from Adrien, fiddling with the edge of her shirt. Sighing under his breath, Adrien scolded himself again. Yet one more time, he had made Marinette feel uncomfortable around him. He was doing a terrible job of trying to be her friend.

Alya pushed herself off of the bench she was sitting on with Nino and put her arms around Adrien. It shocked himself from his thoughts and he reciprocated the hug. When she pulled away, she smiled up at him. “Since I didn’t give you a hug when I saw you at the bar.”

“Ah, I see,” he hummed. Alya didn’t change much since he last saw her. Granted, he had seen her reporting on stories for local Paris news outlets all the time. She seemed to enjoy being the go to freelance journalist in Paris.

“Oh!” Alya said suddenly. She turned back to Nino and grabbed him off the bench before saying, “Let’s all go out to lunch!” Looking out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marinette give an annoyed look to Alya, who just shrugged it off like nothing.

He cleared his throat, “Wait, Alya, we don’t have to go out to lunch if –”

“Ah…” Marinette mumbled beside him, “I mean… Alya and I were going to get food anyways, so, you’re welcome to join us.”

It was a little hard for him not to drag her into a hug. Despite making her feel awkward, twice, she was willing to still be friendly to him. It was a start, at least. He smiled at her, then nodded to Alya. She made a small happy sound and grabbed Marinette’s hand, dragging her ahead to lead the way for him and Nino.

He could see Marinette and Alya whisper things in front of them. Alya’s hands moved, even though it was obvious she was trying not to flail them. Marinette’s shoulders slumped slightly and she hissed something to Alya who made her hands freeze. Alya put her hand on her friends back and leaned in closer to her as they walked, her previous hand movements gone. It was hard not to wonder what they were talking about but he forced himself to think of different things.

Adrien’s eyes drifted off to the children climbing on the statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

_“Do you ever think they will take that down?” Chat Noir asked. Ladybug paused on the roof next to him. She turned to look at what he was meaning._

_“You mean the statue?” She said. He nodded his head back at her and Ladybug sighed. “I don’t know. Everybody seems to love us.”_

_Chat laughed. He couldn’t disagree. The city made sure the statue stayed in perfect shape since it was put up four years ago. Four years… he couldn’t believe it had been four years since he and Ladybug teamed up to stop Hawkmoth. They had gotten close, multiple times, but they never seemed to be able to corner him. He seemed to always have something up his sleeve to escape when a plan of his went south. It almost made him want to stop trying._

_The only reason he hadn’t was because of Ladybug. No matter how many time Hawkmoth got away, or they got beat down, she always had the energy to get back up again. It was one of the many things he had loved about her. Of course, he still loved her, in a way. He just had given up on them being anything but partners in their superhero lives. There was only so much a guy could do before he had to accept a girl just didn’t like him the same way he did._

_“Chat… I’ve been thinking…”_

_“That’s a dangerous thing,” he replied, chuckling at his own joke. Ladybug shoved him, causing him to wobble a bit. He turned to her and saw she didn’t seem to be amused. It instantly sobered him and he stood almost ram-rod straight._

_She sighed. “I… I think we should go after Hawkmoth again.”_

_Chat frowned at her, “Again? We almost lost our Miraculous’s last time.”_

_“I know. I know. I just… I feel different about this time.” He looked at her, taking in how confident and serious she seemed. If Ladybug thought they should try again… well, who was he to disagree?_

_“Alright.”_

Nino nudged his side, “Hey, dude, you good?”

Adrien shrugged his shoulders. It had been a while since he had thought about that time. After visiting his father, it was no wonder it brought him back. Originally, he was just going to find Nino and drink his sorrows away with him in the hotel room. After that moment he had with Marinette, he didn’t feel like he needed it as much. “I’m good now.”

“Sorry, bro. Alya got me distracted,” Nino apologized, an obvious guilt in his voice. Adrien chuckled and nudged his friend playfully.

“I saw. I’m guessing you aren’t going to be in your hotel room very often?” He said, grinned from ear to ear. If he and Alya were hanging out and kissing after they hooked up, it at least meant it wasn’t a one night stand, which he was positive Nino was happy about.

Nino shook his head, “Nah. We decided it would be easier for Marinette if she just came to my hotel room.” Adrien raised his eyebrows at his friend and Nino waved him off, laughing, “Yeah, yeah, she’s coming over tonight, shut up.”

Before he could bug Nino any more than he already was, Alya and Marinette stopped in front of them. Adrien turned to see that they had stopped at a restaurant that they used to frequent as kids. He remembered days on end where he’d sneak out to meet the three of them at the restaurant and they would talk for hours. Alya about the blog and her dreams about becoming a journalist, which she had obviously succeeded.  Nino would explain the newest track he was working on and let them listen to it for as long as they wanted to, the music often becoming a background to their conversation. While it took a while for Marinette to become comfortable sharing with Nino and Adrien, Marinette would share her newest designs, asking for feedback from them. Adrien would… well… he just listened. He never had much things to say, his life was routine. Most of the time, the only thing he thought worth talking about was what he did with Ladybug on patrol, which he could never talk about. He didn’t mind listening, though.

“Oh man!” Nino laughed, “Guys! Do you remember the first time we went here?” Nino pushed between Alya and Marinette to walk into the small diner. The three of them followed him. The diner wasn’t run down but if you looked closely, you could see the dings and scratches that clearly showed it had been well loved by customers over the years.

Without even having to ask, everyone walked towards the empty table to the corner. It was their second choice table, but the one they used to sit at was taken. They had figured out their list of favorite tables after one confusing time they ended up all sitting at different tables and getting confused when no one showed up.

“Yeah, that project was brutal,” Alya replied. Adrien remembered it like it was yesterday. The project basically facilitated a solid friendship throughout high school. It was when Marinette finally stopped disliking him after the gum incident, which Adrien had officially called it. Of course, the entire friendship went out the window after his father was captured.

Nino stretched his arms over his head as he sat down and sighed happily. “Same old, same old. I missed Paris.”

He couldn’t help but nod in agreement. As much as he enjoyed working in America, traveling across the states with Nino by his side, he missed his home city. Paris was and always would be his home, no matter how much he traveled. “It’s nice to be back.”

Alya leaned onto the table, grinning at the two boys, “So, I was never able to ask you, why are you guys back?”

Adrien could see Nino look over to him, waiting to see if he wanted to reveal the reason they came. When his father was captured, some people asked how he didn’t know, or associated his father with him. It led him to avoid mentioning his father to people. He didn’t think Alya was just anybody, though, and Marinette already knew.

“Ah, well, my dad asked me to come. He wanted to talk to me,” he explained. He watched Alya for a negative reaction but she just leant back in her chair.

“About?” She prompted.

He pursed his lips and shook his head. “No clue.” He received a phone call from Nathalie a month ago. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, Nathalie kept in contact with him after Adrien left to Paris. Usually once a week she would call and give him updates on the company and the newest modeling jobs she heard about. That phone call, though, she ended it with saying that his father wanted to speak with him in person. Obviously knowing he needed sometime to process it, she hung up right after saying that. He called her back a week later and asked her why but she didn’t know any more than he did. All his father said was that he wanted to see him.

“He didn’t say anything today?” Nino asked beside him. After he asked, he seemed to flinch, as if realizing that he might not have wanted them to know he saw his father today.

Adrien brushed off Nino’s worry and answered his question, “Just was an asshole. Nothing new, really.” Alya’s eyebrow raised her eyebrows at him, probably because he insulted his father. Despite everything his father did, everybody thought Adrien still cared about him. He didn’t even care very much about him in the first place, he didn’t understand why people thought he would now.

“The anniversary is coming up,” Alya said. She leaned over the table and seemed to look at him as if she was judging his every reaction. It almost made him want to tense up. “Do you hate Chat Noir and Ladybug for catching him?”

“Alya!” Marinette snapped, hitting her friend in the arm. Alya flinched and frowned at Marinette, mouthing _what_ before turning back to Adrien. Marinette dropped her head in her hands and sighed. He knew Nino was looking at, trying to see if he needed to step in or not. Over the years, Nino got pretty good at deflecting those types of questions. It didn’t feel right to avoid answering the question when he wanted Alya and Marinette to be his friend.

Shaking his head, Adrien said, “No, not at all,” Marinette’s shoulders tensed and Adrien tried his best not to read into it. He continued, “You know, Ladybug and Chat Noir, they did what they were supposed to do. Sure, I mean it sucks my dad’s a shit person, but, why would I hold it against them? If I was Chat Noir or Ladybug… I would do the same. I just kind of wish I had the opportunity to thank them, you know.”

Marinette’s chair scratched against the floor as she pushed herself up from the table. “Uh… I’ll be right back.” As she passed the table, Adrien could have sworn that her eyes were half filled with tears. He turned in his seat, wondering if he should get up and go after her when a hand squeezed his shoulder.

“It’s alright. I got this,” Alya said. She followed to where ever Marinette went and Adrien dropped his head to the table. He was just making one mistake after another with Marinette, only this time, he had no idea why she would be mad at him.

If she was upset with what he said, that would have to mean that she hated Chat Noir and Ladybug for what they did. It didn’t make sense with why she ignored him. Why would she hate him for what is father did and hate the people who put his father away at the same time? Nothing really made sense to him and he really, really needed a drink.

“I’m guessing we’re going to the club today?” Nino asked, his hand on Adrien’s back.

“Please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, after a rough start, my new job is pretty great. The new editor started last week so I should be able to get back into the swing of one chapter a week.  
> For those of you still waiting for the epilogue of Away... I'm working on it, promise (I say as I stare at a blank doc).
> 
> Anyways, over these past few weeks I've been writing this chapter and skipping around the story and writing bits and pieces here and there. Mostly my favorite parts, the angsty, fluffy, or funny parts. I'm also planning on squeaking in a few flashbacks in later chapters, as you can see in this one ;D 
> 
> Now, after writing this chapter and looking at my point-plot, I'm just sort of laughing. My point-plots are hilariously misspelled, confusing, and almost all of them were done when I was half asleep. Let's take a vote, whoever wants to see my favorite plot-points from each chapter at the end of future chapters, say aye.
> 
> Anyways, that is all, feel free to show me love by subscribing, kudos, bookmarks, and comments, (I love comments the most). My tumblr is Defectivegems but I haven't been on in forever... which should also get fixed soon. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, loves. Thank you for being patient.


	6. What Size Are You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, what was that, a month?? a little more than that actually.... ah I'm so sorry guys :(

_Chat Noir stretched like a cat in the sun. His bodysuit moved like a second skin, stretching with him. Sometimes, he wondered if he did take on traits of a cat. Laying back onto the roof, he draped his arms across his eyes. It was almost too bright to be outside._

_He grumbled, scolding himself silently for not having the energy to go to school. After the entire debacle with his father, he had anything but. He didn’t even know what he did. One moment everything was fine and the next his father was yelling about his grades or something. To be honest, he didn’t hear much besides the absolute fury in his voice. Plagg was practically trembling in his shirt._

_It was beginning to feel like something was happening and his father wasn’t telling him. Of course, he knew that his father didn’t have to tell him everything, in fact he rarely did. It just seemed like there was more going on with him. He knew the company was fine… at least he thought it was. Nathalie was still organizing fashion shoots for their clothing line so it couldn’t be that bad._

_Curling up to hold his knees to his chest, Chat Noir let out a frustrated sigh. Done below, people shuffled in the streets. Some people looked up and saw Chat Noir’s ‘tail’ hanging off the roof and paused to see him. They took some photos, and went along to their day, probably excited to tell their coworkers they saw the superhero on the way to work._

_He heard a thump behind him, but Chat Noir didn’t look over to see what it was, he already knew. The signature red and black suit sat down beside him and she nudged him in the shoulder._

_“Now I don’t know much about you, but I do know you should be at school,” Ladybug chirped, smiling at him. When she saw that he didn’t react to the joking jab, she leaned on him. “Hey, you okay?”_

_Chat Noir shrugged his shoulders and said, “Personal stuff.”_

_It was always his response when he was in a mood about his dad or school or his friends. Ladybug was adamant about keeping their lives private, and while she became more relaxed with information in the years they’ve been partners, she still kept a tight grip on her secrets._

_Ladybug hummed and nodded her head, “I see.” She let her head drop onto his shoulder looped her arm through his._

_“Shouldn’t you be at school too?” he asked._

_“Yeah… but I think being here for my partner in justice is a little more important,” she said, a touch of sympathy in her voice. He laughed and kissed the top of her head._

A loud blaring ringtone dragged him from his sleep. While reaching for his phone on the night stand, Adrien knocked over a glass of water. He swore and grumbled but didn’t bother moving to clean it up.

Not even opening his eyes, he hit the answer button on his phone and put it on speaker. “Adrien Agreste speaking,” he said, trying not to make it sound like he just woke up.

“Adrien!” Nathalie’s voice blasted through the phone. Adrien jolted up, his eyes jumping open to look at the time. 12 p.m.

  _Shit_.

“Oh my god, Nathalie, I’m so sorry, I’ll be there in a second! Shit, my first fashion shoot back in Pairs and I’m late!” Adrien yelled as he threw himself out of bed, just narrowly avoiding the broken glass on the floor. Note to self, tell Nino to put his hangover water in a plastic glass next time.

Nathalie sighed and Adrien froze. He knew that sigh, that was the _I’m-disappointed-in-you-Adrien-but-also-in-me-because-something-happened-and-I’m-sorry_ sigh. With his pants in his hands, he walked over towards his phone on the bed and grabbed it. “Nathalie, what happened?”

“The fashion designer, he… well, he didn’t know he would be working with you. He is now refusing to let you wear his clothes,” Nathalie said. Adrien flinched, his entire body going cold. He had forgotten what it was like. After his father was caught, fashion designers across Paris started to refuse to work with him. It didn’t matter if he was still one of the most popular models across the world or that working with the company could make their career, the designers took a stand. They thought it showed that they wouldn’t stand with villains and people who preyed on the weak.

All it did was force Adrien to go overseas for work. Of course, the world heard about his father but unless someone was from Paris, they didn’t have a problem working with Adrien.

“Oh… But… this is for Runway. We haven’t been on the cover in two years!” Adrien said. They needed this, the company needed this cover to announce Adrien’s return to working in Paris again. He thought the designers in Paris were over their small rebellion.

“I know, I’ve been trying to find another designer, but with such short notice…” Nathalie trailed off. Adrien knew what she was going to say. It was going to be impossible to find a designer that wasn’t booked and didn’t mind that they would be working with him.

Looking out of his hotel window, Adrien sighed. There was no way they could do this. They would have to cancel everything. He couldn’t do that to Nathalie. “Look, maybe we can just find another model. I don’t know any up and coming fashion designers that….” Adrien paused. On the horizon, he could see the top of Marinette’s parent’s bakery. Marinette… she was still designing. It was a long shot. After what happened yesterday, she might have the same reaction to working with him as the current designer. “Nathalie, give me a second, I’ll call you back.”

“Adrien? What are you doing?” Nathalie asked.

“Probably something stupid.”

 

* * *

 

 

Marinette sighed and stretched her arms over her head. She had been working on this one design for a month already and it just wasn’t working the way she wanted it to. The suits lapels didn’t work with the neckline of the matching dress. She looked down at the pile of scrapped papers, stacked on the corner of the desk. Things might be getting out of hand.

Alya went to work, leaving her alone in their shared apartment to fret about the day. Marinette knew she had to talk to Adrien and Nino and explained why she left their lunch so suddenly yesterday. From what Alya told her, Adrien and Nino were pretty confused about what happened. She just needed to come up with an excuse that made sense first.

Giving up on doing any more work, Marinette grabbed her phone. She opened up her twitter account for her ‘company’ and typed out a new tweet.

 _Fabric, needles, and scrapped designs, just some of the many things in my office_.

As soon as she hit tweet, her phone started ringing. Marinette frowned and tilted her head. The phone number seemed familiar but she didn’t have it saved to her phone. She answered it and put it to her ear, “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Adrien. Now, before you hang up on me can you please listen?” Adrien said over the phone. Marinette opened her mouth to say that she wouldn’t hang up on him but he was already continuing what he was going to say. “Okay so, we had a designer lined up for this photo shoot that’s sort of like a welcome back thing for me but then the designer dropped out, long story, and the shoot is in an hour, or at least the photographer is coming back in an hour. Anyways, we can’t find another designer on such short notice so I was thinking, you! I mean, well, you’re a designer and stuff so I thought you might want to maybe like… provide your clothing for me to model in?”

“What?” Marinette squeaked, too shocked to think out a better response.

“Obviously it’s okay to say no, clearly, just… Oh I don’t know. Forget it. Sorry for bothering-”

Marinette pushed herself out of her chair, “No! I mean… I’ll do it. It’s okay. What… uh, what size are you?”

 

* * *

 

 

She didn’t really realize what was happening until she got to the address that Adrien had texted her. As she started leaving the city, she got a little concerned that Adrien accidentally gave her the wrong address but when she turned the corner to an airplane hangar, she could see small crowds of people moving about.

Following the crowd, she slowly inched her car towards where another group was parked and stepped out. People looked at her strangely, not knowing what to do, before someone came running up.

“Marinette? Are you Marinette?” The frazzled man said. His hair was a complete mess and his glasses falling off his face. She frowned at him and nodded slowly. The man grabbed her arms and let out a sigh of relief, “Oh thank god. Come on, grab the clothes and follow me.”

As soon as she grabbed the bags of clothes, the man was off, practically running back to the hanger through the crowds. Marinette almost fell two times as she tried to keep up with him, juggling the bags and shoes that she brought. Adrien told her he only needed two outfits but she had five on hand in his size, and one that could be altered pretty quickly. It was going to be a big shoot, she didn’t want the photographer to only have two options.

“Can I ask who you are?”

He snorted at her, like the question was offensive to him. When he looked over his shoulder and saw that she actually didn’t know, he sighed. “I’m from Runway. This shit show is my responsibility.”

“Oh,” Marinette mumbled, shutting herself up. It wasn’t like she should have known him. The organizers and managers of shoots aren’t announced in big bold letters at the top of every page. More often than not, all they have is a small mention in the corner. She zigged and zagged with the man, trying not to flinch at some of the looks she got.

When Marinette walked through the doors, she almost dropped everything. The people inside was almost double the people out and Marinette just stood their dumbly. “Uh… isn’t… isn’t this a bit much for a photoshoot?”

The man looked over his shoulder, saw that he had stopped and sighed. He walked back to her and pushed her forward. “Yes, it’s a lot, we are pretending Adrien’s being greeted by a group of fans.”

“Oh…” Marinette said, a little confused. “Isn’t that a little obnoxious?”

“You’re the designer, you aren’t paid for your opinions,” he responded. Marinette frowned again but continued walking. She knew she should say something about it, tell the man off for being so rude, but she couldn’t risk it. Being a new designer with no previous shoots means she can’t be picky about who she works with.

He led her towards the corner of the hanger, passing some empty private jets on the way. She would have paused to stare but she felt like if she did he would fire her. The corner had huge room screens to cut it off from the rest of the area and when they snuck through the small opening, she was greeted with an almost ecstatic Adrien.

“Marinette!” He yelped, jumping from the chair he was sitting on. He walked over to her and gave her a quick hug and grabbed the clothes from her arms. “You didn’t have to bring this much.”

Before either of them could move or say anything, an assistant swooped in and grabbed the outfits and ran off to hang them up by another section of the area, cut off from the rest. A different assistant tapped over to them and quickly pushed Adrien towards the changing area. He looked at Marinette and mouthed a _Sorry_ , before ducking away. She let go off a breath she didn’t know she was holding in.

This was not how she was expecting her day to go today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this would have been a longer chapter but with 2k already in it, i didn't think you guy would want to wait for the rest of the chapter to be written. I mean, sure, a nice 4k chapter but lbh, a two month wait. Not nice.
> 
> Anyways, yes another flash back, got to love me some of those. This flashback is sort of a month or so after the flashback in the other chapter if that helps you understand it a bit. Lemme know what other flash backs you guys want. Unfortunately, this chapter wasn't exactly plotted so no funny plot points. Well, it was plotted but not really so. 
> 
>  
> 
> BIG NEWS! We also hit 100 subscribers. Huge thanks to all of you who are following, couldn't do this without you. 
> 
> As always, comment, bookmark, subscribe, and kudos if you enjoy it and my tumblr is defectivegems. Thank you guys so much for being patient <3


	7. Swooped In Like A Superhero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was a month...... whoops?

Adrien’s heart was practically thumping in his chest as he tried to calm himself and change clothes at the same time. He was used to this type of multi-tasking but not to this extent. It felt as if his heart was crawling up his throat and if he opened his mouth, it would just fall out. Why did he ever think it would be a good idea.

His arm slide into the sleeves of the jacket that one of the assistants was holding up and he tried not to think about how it felt perfect. The sleeves were a little longer than necessary but he wasn’t sure if that was part of the outfit or something that needed to be fixed. He walked back out from the curtained off area and saw Marinette staring at something in her hand with wide eyes. Nathalie was looking down at her with an almost amused smirk, or the closest thing she could have to it.

Out of habit, he straightened his jacket and walked over to peek at what Marinette was staring at. It was the check for giving them the clothes for the shoot.

Marinette squeaked when she felt his breath on her neck and moved out of his way. Her mouth opened, probably to spit out an apology before she snapped it close. She looked him up and down and Adrien tried not to blush. It was only to see if the outfit was the right size. She frowned.

“The sleeves are too long,” she commented. Almost like magic, she pulled out some pins from her back pocket and went to work. The check was forgotten and stuffed her other pocket. Nathalie watched from across the way and raised her eyebrows at him.

He had gotten used to understanding her silent facial expressions and that one was a surprised approval. He almost sighed from relief. It was a good thing she liked Marinette’s designs otherwise, they would have to cancel the entire photoshoot. That was the last thing they needed. Adrien knew that they were finally picking the new CEO for the company and Nathalie would be stepping down from the fill in title. Though he didn’t know why they called it a temporary CEO when she has been for years.

“Thanks again, Marinette.”

She shook her head as she finished pinning his left arm and moved to the right. “I should be thanking you. The check you guys will be giving me is enough to cover tuition for a few of my classes.”

Adrien gave Nathalie a look and she shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, _we had the money anyways_. When Marinette dropped his right arm, she dropped to the ground and Adrien couldn’t help but feel a little hot underneath his collar.

“The pants need to be fixed,” she explained as the fiddled with the hems of the pants. Her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth as she tried to concentrate and Adrien thought it was the cutest thing. “You guys don’t have to pay me, by the way. I’m still finishing up school, just the exposer would be wonderful.”

“Exposure doesn’t pay bills, Marinette,” Nathalie said. “While Agreste Fashion is under my hand, I refuse to used _exposure_ to pay any employee.” The way Nathalie said exposure made Adrien wince a bit. It was one of her biggest pet peeves. To her, anybody who _paid_ with exposure, wasn’t really paying people. Adrien didn’t disagree. Marinette gave a little huffed but she was smart enough to know that there was no arguing with Nathalie. She pushed herself off the ground, straightened out the lapels of the suit, and gave Adrien a once over.

She hummed to herself, “It isn’t perfect… But it’s all I can do.”

Marinette said it more to herself than either of them but Adrien couldn’t help but say, “It’s perfect, Marinette.” The girl flushed and Adrien flushed right back.

“Alright, no point waiting around, Adrien, get out there and model,” Nathalie said, shooing off Adrien with a flick of his hand. He turned to look at Marinette, who had wandered off to set up the other outfits she brought, and debated internally if he should say something to her. He knew that he needed to talk to her, apologize for whatever upset her the other day. Even if he didn’t think he said anything that warranted her getting upset, it didn’t matter. The apology wasn’t for him, anyways. Pressing his lips together, he gives a little sigh and wander off to the set.

His eyes wandered over to the small group of people to the left of the photographer and couldn’t help but sigh. Runway wanted this entire shoot with Adrien being greeted by fans but he’s pretty sure no one in that group of people even cared very much who he was. Really, the whole thing was a little obnoxious to him but he had given Nathalie free reign, and if this is what she decided, then it’s his fault for not putting in his opinion.

The photographer looked up from his camera and sighed from relief. “Finally. Are we ready to go now?” Adrien nodded his head and stood on his mark. “Do your thing, we’ll have the extra’s run around you and position them as we like.”

So he did exactly that. The ‘fans’ swarmed around him on demand and Adrien switched before continuing modeling, looking at the camera, looking to the light, away, and interacting with the supposed fans. With each different pose and movement, the camera snapped around 20 photos, which he suspected only a few would be useable of each. When chatting with the extras he would sometimes forget he was modeling again and his nose would crinkle awkwardly at a funny joke.

Eventually, Adrien was shooed off to change into his next outfit, which Marinette looked at with the same critical and analytical look she did with the last outfit. From formal suit to dressed down jeans, Marinette’s five outfits she brought basically covered everything he would have hoped to have worn at the shoot.

Every single time he went back to change his outfit he felt like saying something to her but thought better of it. He wanted his apology to be sincere and count, not be something passingly while they hurry to do everything in the limited time they have left. Adrien had resolved to apologize after the entire shoot was done. If he caught her before she left, it would be perfect. That way, if she didn’t accept his apology or was still hurt by whatever he had said, she would be able to leave.

During the final, and Adrien’s favorite, outfit, the photographer held up his hand. Everyone on the set and he yelled out to get the extra’s off set, so they skittered away behind the photographer. “Now… Where is the designer? We need photos of you two together.”

Adrien almost swore aloud. This was probably the last thing that Marinette wanted. One of the photographer’s assistants ran off towards the changing room. The assistant dragged out Marinette who was completely flustered and stuttering out excuses of why she absolutely could not.

“Come on now, Runway wants a photo with the designer as well so get in there with Adrien or everything is scraped,” Nathalie said, a little annoyed almost. She was walking directly behind Marinette and the assistant. With a small pout, Marinette huffed and resigned to slowly walk over to Adrien.

“If the younger me could see me now,” Marinette mumbled as she stopped beside him. Straightening her back, she fiddled with her tulle skirt before saying, “Let’s do this thing.”

“Marinette, you don’t have to –” Adrien watched as Marinette gave him this look that said everything, _like hell I will let this entire thing be scrapped because of me_. Smiling, he nodded his head, “Alright. Follow my lead.”

And she did. It was like Marinette was a model and a designer, she moved and interacted with Adrien like the camera wasn’t there but continued to flirt with the lens. Every time Adrien changed his pose, Marinette followed and did the same. He only saw her struggle a few times when the photographer snipped at her to do certain things. Most of the confusion was based on photo shoot language she didn’t exactly understand. With a quick whisper in her ear, Marinette corrected herself and they continued on like the mess up didn’t happen.

He knew Marinette wasn’t exactly happy with the outfit she was wearing by the way she fiddled every time the photographer paused. Adrien wanted to tell her she looked fine and beautiful but he thought it would have been a bit awkward if he said that and she was still annoyed at him.

When the photographer finally yelled that they were done, Marinette let out a sigh of relief. She ran her hand through her hair quickly and turned towards Adrien. “I don’t know how you do this.”

He shrugged his shoulders, “It’s not so bad if you like modeling.”

She hummed, “I suppose. Thank you again, Adrien, I’m really glad I was able to work with Runway and Agreste Co.”

“No, thank you, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without you, Marinette. You literally swooped in like a superhero,” Adrien laughed a little to himself, “All you need is a mask and a yo-yo.”

A frown crossed Marinette’s face almost instantly as he said that. Tight lipped, she nodded her head, “Yeah.”

Adrien felt his chest get tight and he scolded himself silently. Great. What was it, the fifth time that he upset her. He really was good at doing that. “Marinette, I… I’m sorry about the other day. I don’t know what I said but I’m sorry that I upset you.” Adrien mumbled, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet.

Her face almost instantly turned pink and she started to sputter, “No! You didn’t… ugh this is so messed up.” Marinette pressed her face into her hands and shook her head to herself. When she looked back up to Adrien, she said, “You didn’t upset me, I just… I thought that you hated Chat Noir and Ladybug for what they did. I was… I don’t know, shocked? Just came as a surprise, is all.”

“Oh…” Adrien said. He clutched his hands behind his back and pressed his lips together. Marinette wasn’t upset at him. For that at least. “So… You don’t hate me?”

“What? No! Adrien, no, of course I don’t!” Marinette sputtered out quickly. She turned even more red, “No… If anything Adrien I like you, I think you are a great person. Anybody would be lucky to be your friend.”

Hearing Marinette’s words made Adrien’s heart swell with happiness and he couldn’t help himself from smiling as wide as his mouth would let him. “That’s good. After… After everything that happened I wasn’t sure. Some people, they… that doesn’t matter. It’s good that you don’t hate me. I wouldn’t want you to hate me.”

A small smile spread on Marinette’s face and she nodded her head. Before Adrien could stop himself, he spat out, “Would you want to hang out? I mean… while I’m still in Paris. We used to hang out in high school and play video games. I would… I think it would be fun if we could-”

“As long as you let me test out new designs on you, I need a male model,” Marinette responded.

“It’s the least I can do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, to be fair, I did finally post that epilogue for Away... so... there's that. 
> 
> ANYWAYS! back to information! So, yes I know, this chapter wasn't even 2k, how could I. Well... My mind wasn't working for me so. Also... I have 2 long fanfictions I will write after this. One ML related (you can see the basis for that fic in one of my others called ___) and another OMGCP related, which... is a secret shhhh. No one can know about that one (mostly cause it might not even happen).
> 
> I'm also into a new fandom, voltron, and have been playing dragon age again, so expect some fics from those fandoms. 
> 
> I'm back to uni at the end of the month though, so hopefully I can get back on track for updates and maybe even start those fics or others. Who knows. 
> 
> ALSO BIG NEWS!!!! I changed my tumblr, it is now Thegabbing, which is my username for most things (except for this obvi). Go follow for updates on the fic or just to bother me and bug me to update. 
> 
> As always, I appreciate every comment, kudos, bookmark and subscribe. Love you all, thank you for being patient with me this summer <3


	8. I Messed Up So Bad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this was pretty much an on time update??? and?? I?? just? what?

_Marinette gripped the miraculous tighter in her hand as she stared down at Hawkmoth. Gabriel Agreste. After everything that happened, she would have never guessed it was Adrien’s father. She tied her yo-yo back onto her hip and turned towards Chat at her side. A blinding smile splayed on her face, she said, “We did it. We won.”_

_Where she thought she would be met with a smile just as large as hers, Marinette was faced with a horrified look on Chat Noir’s face. He took a step back, then another. Before Marinette was able to question what was wrong, he shook his head. “I… I can’t. I’m... I’m sorry, Ladybug.”_

_She reached towards him but he was already turning and running away, jumping out the window of the warehouse they found Hawkmoth in. Frowning to herself, Marinette turned back to the unconscious man on the floor. After calling the police with her yo-yo, she tied hawkmoth up and waited for the police, wondering where Chat Noir leapt off to in such a hurry._

Stretching her arms above her head, Marinette paused in sewing her newest project. The door to the apartment opened with a creak and Marinette decided to talk a little break to investigate. Alya had texted her an hour ago to tell her she would be coming back to the apartment soon. By soon, Marinette had assumed within thirty minutes but obviously they had different definitions of the word.

When she opened the door, she noticed Alya raiding the fridge in the kitchen. “We ought to clarify what soon means,” Marinette hummed as she wandered over. She jumped up to sit on the counter of the fridge and watch as Alya fumbled around for ingredients for a sandwich.

Alya shrugged her shoulders and carried out the condiments in her arms along with the vegetables she likes putting in her sandwiches. Her foot hit the fridge door and slammed it close. “Soon means soon.” Marinette passed her the bread sitting on the counter and grabbed her a knife from the drawer between her legs. “So I heard you got a little job.”

Marinette couldn’t help but snort. The actual shoot was only a few days ago and Marinette had heard a few things from Adrien since about the photos, but she wouldn’t have called that job _little_. “It was weird. Apparently the designer canceled so Adrien called me cause I was the last person they could get on short notice.”

Her best friend’s eyebrows raised, “I’m sure it was more than that, Marinette.”

Her shoulders shrugged and she continued to watch her friend cut up some tomatoes and cucumbers. Marinette snatched away a couple slices of cucumber.

_His eyes could barely focus on where he was going, everything was fuzzed at the corner, distorted with the tears coming from his eyes. His father… His father was hawkmoth, the person he had been fighting to stop for years, the person who has caused so much hurt. Adrien couldn’t believe it. It was like his life was one huge joke and he was meant to suffer forever._

_It wasn’t right. It wasn’t okay. How was he supposed to… what was he supposed to do without his father? While they had never been close, he was still his dad, evil or not. His heart pounded in his chest as he jumped over building after building. He could barely think about the fact that he had just left Ladybug alone with the villain they had been chasing after for years. All he wanted to do was to get out, to get away._

_He couldn’t be Chat Noir anymore._

Adrien smiled as Nino came swaggering though his doorway, a grin as wide as possible on his face. He hadn’t seen Nino in a couple of days because he had sent Adrien a text saying that Alya was at his hotel room. Adrien took that as the proverbial sock on the door. Nino fell onto his bed and starfished across it. His grin stayed in place as he said, “Dude… just… dude.”

He laughed at his best friend, who was so blissed out he could barely say two words. “Two days, Nino. It’s been two days since I saw you. I thought she killed you with sex.”

Nino hummed happily, “That would have been a good death. But actually, we didn’t have sex at all. Well… not in those two days.” Adrien looked at him in slight disbelief and Nino curled his nose at him. “No, really. I had to DJ at this one bar so, Alya hopped along with me. Most of the time we just cuddled and watched TV. I tagged along to an event she needed to report on too. It was a lot of fun.”

“You guys dating now then?” Adrien asked curiously.

“Maybe?” Nino shrugged his shoulders but he didn’t seem to bothered by it, “We still haven’t talked about it since you last asked. I think we are just enjoying each other’s company right now. It’s pretty nice just to hang out with her without any pressure to do or say anything.”

Adrien laughed slightly and sighed, “Yeah, that would be nice.”

_“Ladybug! Ladybug, over here!”_

_Flashes of light filled the air like a thunderstorm as she stepped out of town hall with the mayor. He squeezed her shoulder and posed for photographs for the press before the continued to walk towards the podium they set up on the stairs. It had only been a few days since Hawkmoth – or Mr. Agreste – had been captured but the media was getting antsy._

_Marinette stood beside the mayor as he told the press what was being released so far. Hawkmoth was captured by her and Chat Noir, he was Gabriel Agreste, and he would get a trial. Most of the things he said the press already knew, but the questions the media answered were directed towards her._

_“Ladybug, where is Chat Noir?”_

_Gulping down her disappointment, Marinette smiled at the reporter, “Chat Noir has been suddenly called away and unfortunately, could not address the public before he retired as Paris’s superhero.” A collection of whispers and mumbles roll through the crowd before Marinette tried to quell them by saying, “He did, however, want Paris to know, that he will never forget the years he served and helped, and he endeavors to make Paris a better place as a civilian.”_

_She was just spouting a bunch of bullshit because she had no idea where Chat Noir was. She had no idea who he even was. All she knew is that at Master Fu’s, the ring was sitting quietly in the box, waiting to be reunited with its counterpart._

_Reporters began to yell out questions and wave their hands. Marinette gestured to another reporter. “Will you be retiring?”_

_She knew the question was coming, and had already prepared her answer. “I will be staying until the start of Hawkmoths trial, but I believe Paris will serve out the justice it sees fit.”_

_The screaming began again and Marinette tried her best not to break down as she answered question after question._

“So how are you and Adrien by the way? I’ve seen you smiling at your phone, and I know for a fact it couldn’t be anyone else.” Alya nudged Marinette as she grabbed her plate with the finished sandwich and walked over to their dining table.

Marinette followed with a blush in her cheeks. It wasn’t like anything had happened between them to make her blush but just the way Alya worded it made her feel like she was back in school, fawning over every move Adrien made. Alya sat down at the table and started digging into her sandwich, looking at her best friend expectantly. Marinette rolled her eyes, looking away from Alya, like for some reason that would make her feel less embarrassed.

“I don’t know. Just… He doesn’t… He doesn’t blame me.” Alya looked at Marinette with a look that said _no shit_ and she huffed, “But hearing him say it, Alya… Its different, okay.”

Alya swallowed thickly and nodded her head, “I mean, I guess that makes sense. You guys back to being friends now? I want our group back together. I mean, they still live in America, but, whatever, you guys can date long distance.”

“Alya!” She squeaked, her face feeling twice as hot as it was before. Alya cackled and took another bite of her sandwich.

_A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her roughly into the bathroom. Marinette yelped, reflexively grabbing onto her purse that used to hold Tikki, before she remembered there was no longer anything to worry about. Marinette turned to see Alya staring at her with an annoyed look. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest. “Spill. What. The. Fuck.”_

_“Alya!” Marinette gasped. Her friend rarely swore. Normally, it was only when she was drunk, which was rare. Her lips pressed together and she simply raised her eyebrows. Marinette shrugged her shoulders, looking down to her feet. “Nothing is wrong, Alya, it’s fine.”_

_A huge annoyed huff pushed out of Alya’s mouth. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I have no idea who you think you are talking to but I am your_ best _friend. I’m not stupid. You are avoiding Adrien. You aren’t looking at him. Marinette, it’s been months since you looked at him. We are literally graduating tomorrow. I know it’s not because of his father because you aren’t a horrible person. So. What. The. Fuck. Happened.”_

_“I-” Marinette said, her mind rolling some new elaborate excuse in her mind, but when she looked at Alya, at the concern and honest to god worry under her annoyed façade, everything just… cracked. Marinette could feel tears well up in her eyes and Alya gave a little gasp before pulling her friend into her arms._

_“Oh… Marinette.”_

_“I messed up, Alya… I messed up so bad.”_

Nino grabbed his phone out of his pocket and started to play some reflex game, something he had begun to do on his down time to keep his DJ skills, as he liked to say, _on point_. Adrien couldn’t help but look up at the celling and give a little annoyed sigh. He had to visit his father again tomorrow and he was not going to enjoy it. Nathalie had begged him, literally begged him, to visit his father one last time. The only reason Adrien agreed was that Nathalie made a promise to work with Marinette again in the future once she was done her schooling.

“What’s up?” Nino asked, as always, a vigilant friend.

Adrien told Nino what was happening and his best friend hummed, putting his phone down for a second. “This time, come back to the hotel, I will have booze here so we don’t have to go out. We can play War.”

A small smile on his face, Adrien reach down and patted Nino’s shoulder, “See, this is why I brought you to America with me.”

Nino turned towards him and made an incredulous face, “You asked me? Adrien, no, I was the one who brought you. Damn, you obnoxious models think you know everything.” Adrien couldn’t help but let out a large belt of laughter.

_Nathalie knocked lightly on his bedroom door and creaked it open. Adrien didn’t move from his spot by the window, staring out at the horizon of Paris. He couldn’t stop looking at it, thinking about how he would never jump across the rough tops again, never see Plagg again. Everything was over._

_“Adrien… Your friend, he’s at the door and he refuses to leave. He… said he is coming to America with you because… well… he said ‘because you can’t do anything by yourself, sunshine boy’.”_

_Adrien chuckled and sighed. He should have thought the news would reach him soon enough. He was hoping to get a clean break, he didn’t want to explain to Nino why he was going, why he had to leave, not like he had a choice in the matter now. Adrien waved, “Let him in.”_

_“Oh good, because if you said no, I was gonna barge in here anyways.” Nino said. Nathalie started sputtering then just sighed in annoyance and shut his bedroom door. Adrien turned around to see Nino hovering at the door way, with a sad look on his face. “Thought we were better friends than that, bro.”_

_He grimaced and sighed. “Nino… We are… I just.”_

_“Dude. Ever since your dad got caught, you’ve been acting super sketchy, and not in the old way like running over at a moment’s notice, but a feeling guilty way and I just want to know why. I mean, I really do want to go to America, there is some great DJ gigs there, but… If you don’t want me to –”_

_“No! I mean, I do. Nino I do want you to come, but…” Adrien ran his hands through his hair. “I just… You need to know something first. You might think of me a little differently and not want to come.”_

_Nino walked over and plopped on the ground next to Adrien. “Adrien, you are friends with Chloe. If that didn’t change my mind about you, this won’t either.”_

“I’m… I’m thinking about visiting Master Fu again,” Marinette mumbled. Alya paused, her sandwich just a few centimetres away from her mouth. Sighing, Alya set her sandwich back down on her plate and gave Marinette a look. She couldn’t exactly blame her best friend for giving her a slightly annoyed look.

She visited Master Fu every year at this time, around the anniversary of everything that happened. Marinette would visit Master Fu, have tea and talk about what happened since she last saw him. Mostly, she went to see if Chat had gone back, left a note, left something, to explain why he left her.

He hasn’t in two years and there is no reason to think that it would be any different this year.

“Honey…” Alya said, sympathy and pity filling her voice. Marinette shrugged her shoulders and pressed her lips together. It’s not like she wanted to be this hung up over it. If she could just… see him, know who he is, ask him why he left her, maybe it would be fine.

Looking away from her friend, Marinette pushed herself away from the table and went back to her room to finish her designs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yes, a nice fluffy... angsty? a something chapter. Okay so its mostly filler... but only cause the next few chapters will be... intense.... so ;D stay tuned. well... like, you will see. You might cry. or laugh. okay enough, thats later
> 
> Okay so there will be no update next week probably, like the end of august week, because im going back to uni that week, So i will be a bit too busy to actually, like, write enough? but the drive down will at least get me half way, so expect it the first week of sept. 
> 
> Remember!! New tumblr is Thegabbing
> 
> Alright, as always, i appreciate every comment, kudos, bookmark, and subscribe <3 love you all, thank you for your patience this summer.


	9. You Two Are Connected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first week of September i said..... i lied

With his hand tightly clenched, Adrien walked through the gate to the visiting area to his father one more time. After this, that was it, he could go back to never thinking or seeing him again. Nathalie swore on the company that this would be the final time she would ask Adrien to see him.

Similar to last time, his father was sitting at the table, his hands clasped together and only the glinting of metal to indicate he was chained to the table. To be honest, he didn’t know why they took such precautions with him. It was the kwami that gave him those powers, his father was just a normal human on his own.

His father grinned at him, pleased that Adrien came wandering back no doubt. Breathing deeply, Adrien walked to the table and sat down across from him. He stared into the eyes of his father and couldn’t help but think of every single time he abused his power, abused the kwami. It was unfortunate that he couldn’t apologize to the kwami for what his blood did.

“Adrien. So glad you came back,” He said. His voice dripped with a sarcastic humor.

“You are the one who asked. This is the last time I am coming,” Adrien snipped. He refused to let his father get the best of him this time around. “If you what you wanted to say is so important, say it.

Leaning back into the chair, Gabriel stared at Adrien. He gave an annoyed sigh, one that Adrien was all too familiar with, and pressed his lips together. “I don’t know when you lost your manners.”

If he hadn’t had better control of himself, Adrien would have snapped that he lost them when he almost killed Nooroo. Instead, Adrien just clenched his teeth and stared back at his father. Ten seconds. He would count to ten and if he still hadn’t said anything important, he would leave.

“Fine. I don’t see the point of dragging this on if you won’t play. As you know, Adrien, Nathalie has been running the company since I have been incarcerated.” His father paused and Adrien nodded his head to indicate that he had not drifted off and he was listening. “Well. Now that you are twenty years old and back in Paris. That job, now falls to you.”

“What?” Adrien yelped, shocked.

“Part of my deal with the government was that they did not seize the company and that you were allowed to run it when you obtain the right qualifications written within the code of the company. You were always supposed to run the company after me. Though only if I was incapacitated.”

His father continued to speak about the responsibilities that came with running the company but Adrien could barely pay attention to what he was saying.

Running the company. Sure, maybe in his fantasies when he was a child he thought about being the CEO of the company, making decisions on what designers and models to hire and what shoots to do, but he had long given up on that dream. After the entire fiasco with his father, Adrien thought that they would eventually sell the company due to it not making as much money now.

He would run the company. It was now his. He could make the decisions. He could fire the designers that refused to work with him and he could hire new ones.

He could hire better ones.

Adrien pushed himself out of the chair quickly and motioned for the guard to start opening the door for him to leave. Pausing as he was about to leave, Adrien turned back to his father and nodded. “Thank you.”

“Enjoy.”

 

* * *

 

 

Marinette swore to herself as she accidentally stabbed herself in her finger. Again. All she needed to do was finish this final project for her last design class. One more project and she would have her degree. She was trying to rush herself into finishing and consistently got herself hurt instead.

She had promised herself that this design would be the best one she had ever handed in and like hell she would let herself down.

Sighing and leaning back into her chair, she grabbed her phone. It had been about three hours since she took her last break and she was starting to get hungry again. Marinette was tempted to go out of her room and grab more food so she didn’t just fill up on the junk food that filled her room but she could hear Alya banging around in the kitchen. After what happened yesterday, Marinette didn’t really want to spend an extended amount of time with her. She would give her a sympathetic look that didn’t go away until the anniversary passed.

She pushed herself out of her chair, grabbing her jacket from her closet before leaving her room. Giving a clipped goodbye, Marinette left their apartment.

Now was a good time to visit Master Fu.

Luckily, Master Fu’s place wasn’t far. It was a short drive but a nice walk, so to take up more time and get her legs moving, Marinette decided to wander down the street instead of getting into her car. Neither Master Fu nor Wayzz knew she was coming but she was certain they would be expecting her sometime soon anyways. It wasn’t like it was odd for them to visit her. Not only did she have a habit of visiting when the anniversary came up but whenever something happened that reminded her of her time as Ladybug.

Being a weekend, the sidewalks were filled with people walking quickly, trying to get to where ever they were going. Marinette remembered when she would sit on top of buildings and watch the people go by. She never thought that it was anything special, just a normal part of her life but, now that she was always part of that crowd, she couldn’t help but miss it.

Eventually Marinette was able to weave her way through the crowd to Master Fu’s shop. She walked in through the doors, relaxing at the familiar chime. Louise was sitting at the front desk, dancing slightly in her chair at the music coming through her headphones. No one else was in the waiting room, thankfully, so Marinette walked up to the desk and waved her hand in front of Louise’s face.

She yelped, taken aback, and tore out her headphones. “Marinette! You scared me. No one comes in this late.” Louise paused and sighed, “Well, you do. Anyways, go on in. Master Fu doesn’t have any clients in right now, so I’m sure he won’t mind a visit from an old friend.”

Marinette smiled at Louise. She kind of wondered if Louise knew anything about the kwami’s. Sometimes she said things that made her suspect that the girl knew a little more than she let on. Not that Master Fu would ever confirm it. He told her that he had an apprentice chosen to take over as the watcher, but he refused to tell her who. _For their safety and privacy_ , he constantly said, _they will reveal themselves to you with time_. Waving good bye, she walked through the doors to Master Fu’s office.

Master Fu was sitting at his desk by the container where the Miraculous’s were kept. Wayzz was sitting on the box, chatting away with Fu. When Wayzz saw Marinette, he instantly flew over and smashed into her face.

“Marinette! I haven’t seen you in-”

“A month. A new record, young Ladybug,” Master Fu chuckled, slowly getting out of his chair. Despite Wayzz’s miraculous slowing the aging process, he was getting old. 120 years was still old, even for a turtle.

She smiled at Master Fu and walked over to give him a hug. “Master. You know I prefer being called Marinette. I’m not Ladybug anymore.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “You don’t stop being Ladybug simply because you gave up the Miraculous, my dear.”

She tried her best not to roll her eyes at Master Fu. No matter how much she told him to stop calling her Ladybug, he refused to. Marinette was beginning to think it was just to annoy her. Master Fu did have a tendency to annoy her with his avoidance of answering or doing certain things.

“So, what brings you around today, my dear? Missing Tikki? Or missing someone more corporeal?” He asked her. The look on his face showed that he already knew the answer to his question. Marinette simply shrugged her shoulders and followed him as he walked over to the other corner of the room to prepare some tea for her visit.

Wayzz floated along beside them, deciding to sit on Marinette’s shoulder when she took a seat in one out the chairs at the table. “Tikki and Plagg are still hibernating, by the way. I check on them every day but they will probably be unable to communicate with me for a while.”

Marinette nodded her head, already knowing that answer before she had came. When she first visited Master Fu and Wayzz, they explained how after a miraculous is given up by their holder, the kwami’s hibernate to rest. A hibernation could go anywhere from a year to a century, there was no way to tell when Tikki and Plagg would wake up again and no way to tell when they would be ready to be passed on to new holders, if they needed too. The last time there was a Ladybug and Chat Noir was two centuries ago, and they had only woken up a decade before they moved on.

“I expected as much. How are the others; how is Nooroo?” Marinette asked him. She grabbed Wayzz off her shoulder and set him down on the table so she could see him without craning her neck. Master Fu set the pot of tea on the table and started to pour them each a glass, including a miniature one for Wayzz.

Wayzz sighed and shook his head. “Hasn’t woken. I don’t expect him too any time soon. Being taken control of that, being corrupted... it takes a lot out of kwami. I’m just lucky I’ve never experienced that. Might take a century or two until he is back to himself again.”

She hummed and took on of the full cups of tea. Taking a deep gulp, Marinette relaxed into the chair and took in her company. The only thing that would make these visits better was if Chat Noir would join them. Shaking her head out of the thought, Marinette looked over to Master Fu, “How are you, Master? Business going well?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “as well as it can be when you’re 120, Ladybug.” Marinette laughed at his response and took another sip of her water. Silence fell over them and her body tensed, all too used to the question that was going to come up in a matter of seconds. “What would you like to hear today, Ladybug?”

“Why did he leave so suddenly? When he gave you back the Chat Noir Miraculous, what did he seem like? Was he okay? Was he just wanting to get rid of the responsibility?” Marinette asked, her voice shy and weak. Over the years she had asked this question multiple times to Master Fu and his response would always be the same.

“You will have to ask him yourself, Marinette, I cannot answer for someone else.”

Marinette scoffed slightly and took another sip of the tea, “Little hard to do that when you won’t tell me who he is, Master.”

“You’ll find him again. They always do. Miraculous or not, you two are connected.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so.... almost 2k and mostly filler. whatever. its necessary information yall. 
> 
> Next Chapter will include Adrien talking to the lovely Nathalie and asking her what the honest fuck, and adrien also talking to the lovely marinette and asking her a different what. 
> 
> Tumblr is thegabbing and as always, kudos, subs, comments, and bookmarks are appreciated. <3 thank you loves


	10. I Need To Ask You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay.... so a month between updates. Thats not toooooooo bad. At least it isnt two? Anyways, enjoy, more notes at the end!

Without even thinking, Adrien found himself telling his driver to head to the Agreste tower. He needed to see Nathalie; he had to know why she hadn’t just told him he was going to become CEO in the first place.

As he waited for his driver to drive back to Paris from the prison, Adrien texted Nino, asking if he could call him. Nino needed to know as soon as possible. Besides, if Adrien was taking on the role of CEO, that would change whether or not he was going back to America or not. He would need to stay in Paris to get adjusted and run the company, or at the very least, he would need to stay in Paris more often than not.

Nino replied quickly with a yes and Adrien didn’t waste any time pressing the call button.

“So... I might not be going to America,” He said. He could hear Nino let out a hum of interest on the other end of the line. In the background there was sound of some new music that he had heard Nino working on the plane to Paris. It sounded twice as good as it was then.

“You and Marinette finally dating now?” Nino said.

“What?” Adrien yelped in surprise. The driver looked at Adrien in the mirror, shocked at the sudden sound. Giving him an apologetic look, Adrien continued to talk to Nino, “No, not at all, why would you think that?” The driver put up the partition between the front seat and the back seat.

A noncommittal sound came from Nino and Adrien could almost picture the shrug. “Well... I mean... why else would you be staying in Paris?”

Adrien sighed, “Nino, I’m the new CEO of the company.”

“Oh! Man! Congratulations, dude! You deserve it, you’ll do a great job!” Nino said happily.

He couldn’t help but feel a little confused about Nino’s lack of worry. He thought Nino would be a little sadder about Adrien not being able to come back with him to America. “You seem pretty calm about the entire idea,” Adrien mentioned, feeling rather pathetic about the entire idea.

“Well, yeah, I guess I don’t really know if I want to go back to America either.” Before Adrien could ask about it, Nino continued, “I don’t know if I want to stay in Paris either, to be honest. Maybe London or Canada. I haven’t decided anything yet. But I feel like that American adventure is closed, you know?”

“Very philosophical, Nino. You should be a scholar.”

Nino scoffed, “Asshole.” They laughed at each other for a moment before Nino broke the simple silence with a question, “So what exactly does you being CEO mean?”

Adrien shrugged even though he knew that Nino couldn’t see what he was doing. “I’m heading over to the building now. I’m going to ask Nathalie about it. To be honest, I’m a little confused about the entire thing. Nathalie will be able to clarify everything.” The partition squeaked down and the driver motioned for Adrien that they were arriving shortly. “I’ve got to go, we’re almost there. I’ll let you know what happened when I see you tonight.”

With a short goodbye, Adrien hung up the phone and gathered himself to face Nathalie. He had so many questions he wanted to ask her but he also knew Nathalie was incredibly busy. She didn’t have that much time to answer his questions while she was in the CEO position. The reason why she was so busy lately was probably because she was preparing for him to take over the position when he was ready.

The car slowed into traffic and Adrien found himself staring outside the window, looking up at the rooftops. His mind inserted memories of Ladybug jumping across, remembering the way he would always jump after her, sometimes struggling to keep up.

She would laugh at him, taking playful jabs about how he should have the turtle miraculous instead. Her smile would warm his heart and despite falling out of infatuation with her in their final years together, the thought still brought a smile to his lips. If there was one thing he could change in his life, it would probably be the way he left her.

If he ever saw her again, the first thing he would say would be _sorry_.

Adrien’s driver pulled up to the curb and stepped out to open his door. He quickly thanked him and told him he could have the rest of the day off. For a moment, the driver seemed like he was about to protest but then sighed. Adrien waved him a goodbye as he drove off before walking into the building.

He didn’t bother stopping at the desk, only walking through to the elevator to take it to the management floor. In the elevator, people paused and tried to whisper to their coworkers that Adrien Agreste was in the elevator. Adrien tried not to look back at them. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass them.

The elevator doors opened every few floors, letting people out. As it got higher and higher, fewer and fewer people were in the elevator. By the time that it got to the floor Adrien was heading too, there was only two other people in the elevator.

Adrien stepped out with the others, splitting off from them to go to Nathalie’s office... soon to be his office. He had no doubt that Nathalie was waiting for him. She had known he was going to see his father today and what he would tell him.

His thoughts were only confirmed when he walked past Nathalie’s receptionist and she only smiled at him and nodded her head at the door, inviting him to go in himself.

When he walked through the door, Nathalie already had a pen in hand and a stack of papers on her desk, just waiting for Adrien to sign on the dotted line. For a moment, Adrien just stood at the door, in a sort of disbelief. Not only had Nathalie lied to him, but she forced him to see his father when she could have just told him herself.

His arms crossed in front of his chest. “I suppose it would be too much to ask why you didn’t tell me.”

Nathalie sighed, seemingly already knowing he was going to ask that. She put down the pen she was holding and just gestured him to sit on the couch she had in the corner of the room. Begrudgingly, he sat on the couch with her, waiting for her to explain herself.

“When your father was captured, the company was gifted to me under the condition that you would take it over when your father decided you would be ready. As well as that condition, he said that he would be the only one who would tell you. While that wasn’t necessarily a contract sort of agreement, Adrien, I do owe your father a lot.”

“He is a terrible person, Nathalie. You don’t owe him anything,” Adrien snipped. He hated the fact that some people felt like they owed his father despite what he did. Nobody should feel like they owe anybody.

Nathalie shrugged her shoulders, as if saying _agree to disagree_. “He did give me a chance when no one else would, Adrien. I owe most of my life now to him.”

Adrien just scoffed, refusing to acknowledge that what Nathalie said was sort of true. Nathalie was down on her luck after graduating from university and after Adrien’s mother disappeared, his father was searching for someone to take care of Adrien. Nathalie applied even though she was terribly underqualified, but his father took a chance on her. He supposed that was the one thing that his father did right, he often hired people who were less qualified but had potential. Adrien couldn’t blame his father for that.

“So what do you want to know about becoming the CEO, Adrien?”

There was silence for a moment and then Adrien smiled slowly. “Just one thing.”

  

 

* * *

 

Marinette yelped as her head slipped from her hand and slammed down onto her table. Slowly pulling her head up, she groaned and rubbed her cheek. If she got a bruise on her cheek, she was going to blame her final project. She had just finished fixing the last things she needed to and was checking it over. It was really late when she finished, she must have fallen asleep before she remembered to go to her bed.

Alya yelled and asked if she was okay. Marinette groaned back and she could here Alya cackling in the kitchen. Every single year they went through this time when Marinette would stay up all night finishing fashion projects. Though, it would be the last year, since her program was only two years. In a way, she was nervous, because after this, she would have to go out into the real world. Finding a job in this industry would be next to impossible.

Unless... of course, she knew someone who was in the industry.

She shook her head, almost ashamed of herself. Marinette had just become friends with Adrien again; using him like that would be wrong.

Sighing to herself, Marinette pushed herself from her desk, trying not to cringe at the crick in her neck. From the corner of her eye she could see her clock basically screaming at her that it was one in the afternoon. For a moment, she almost wanted to snip at it but then she remembered, clocks are not human. Marinette walked out of her room and came face to face with Nino.

They both screamed out in surprise. “Nino!” Marinette yelled.

“Marinette!” Nino removed the headphones from his ears but Marinette could still hear some of his music flowing through them. She had to admit, it sounded nice. With a hand clutching his chest, Nino let out an annoyed breath. “You need to stop scaring people.”

“Excuse me, when have I ever scared you?” Marinette asked, raising her eyebrows.

Nino frowned, opening his mouth for a snarky response but quickly shut it. “Whatever.... Just.... Be louder.”

Marinette snickered to herself, trying to bit her tongue. She almost wanted to say _like you two?_ But she knew that Alya would probably smack her upside the head for that. As much as she loved teasing her best friend, she would rather not bare the wrath of her smack. It hurt.... way too much for it to be normal.

Alya chuckled from the kitchen at the exchange. “I was getting Nino to knock on your door. I wanted to ask you guys something.”

Both of them turned to her and Marinette pursed her lips. Either Alya had another plan of getting Adrien and her together ( _together_ together) or she had a new idea that she needed everybody to weigh in on. Before Alya could speak, Marinette made a silent bet with herself that it was the latter.

“I have this new idea for my blog –” _called it_ , “And I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for all of us to go to lunch together again?”

Marinette was about to smile and tell Alya that was a great plan when Nino let out a loud _ehhhhhh_. Seeing the look on Alya’s face, Nino quickly started to backpedal. “Oh! No, I mean, it’s a great idea, Alya, seriously, babe, we should totally do that lunch, but Adrien’s a bit busy right now.”

“Still? He called you two days ago, how long does it take him to get whatever he was doing done?” Nino snorted, like whatever she had said was hilarious but quickly gained back his composure. He shrugged his shoulders.

“He should be done today; he just has to talk to somebody first. Then we can all have lunch tomorrow. Promise.”

Alya sighed, slightly annoyed that she couldn’t have lunch with her friends to discuss her supposedly great idea. Shaking off her disappointment, Marinette watched as a smile returned to her face and she said, “Alright, Adrien will just have to be filled in later, we can all go out instead.”

As if it was planned, Marinette’s phone started to ring in her bedroom. Holding up a finger and murmuring a quick apology, she went back into her room to answer her phone. When she saw the caller, she was a little shocked. It was Adrien, oddly enough. Picking up the phone as soon as she got her hands on it, she said, “Hey, Adrien.”

“Hey... I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch today? I have something I need to ask you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOOOOOO????  
> what do you thinks he's going to ask her ???? ;D ;D ;D
> 
> no, really, what do you guys think he's gonna ask, I want to know. 
> 
> Either way, you'll find out next chapter, which, if we are being serious, might take a month. I have a 8 page paper due this coming month and a 7 page one too. so I'm going to be swamped with research and grammar. 
> 
> As always, I appreciate every kudos, comment, subscribe, and bookmark. Hmu on tumblr at thegabbing if you want to bother me about posting! Love you all, thank you for being patient!


	11. Coffee Would Be Nice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't kill me maybe?

Adrien’s fingers drummed on the table nervously. The dinner waitress circled by him the fourth time, asking if he needed anything. He shook his head for the umpteenth time. While he used to be accustom to people fawning him, it’s been years since anybody fawned over him in Paris.

Taking his coffee cup in his hands, he tried to distract himself with a sip. Marinette was running a bit late. Adrien blamed himself for it; he had sprung it on her suddenly. When he asked if she wanted to go out to lunch, she started sputtering and telling him how she wasn’t sure how much time she would have that day. Eventually, they worked out that a mid-afternoon lunch on the weekend would work best for them. It was three days away but it did allow Adrien to ask Nathalie for the papers he needed.

He looked down to his lap and shifted the contract on his lap. He ran the idea past Nino and he all but squealed his approval. Of course, the squealing could have been partially from Alya who was apparently on the phone when Adrien barged into Nino’s hotel room yesterday. Either way, both of them teased him saying that he might as well call it a date while he was at it.

But it wasn’t.

A date.

It wasn’t and it won’t be and it will never be.

Marinette is great, and amazing, and funny, and beautiful, and –

Adrien stopped drumming his fingers on the table. He brought up his hand and touched the smile that spread across his face. Now that would be a mess and a half. It wasn’t like Adrien didn’t find himself caring for Marinette in their last year of school together. His attention towards Ladybug swung more towards the friendship variety and Adrien started to notice how amazing Marinette was. After his father became captured, though, Adrien didn’t have the opportunity to see if the small feelings in his gut would grow into something more.

Shaking his head, he took a huge gulp of coffee.

That’s not what this lunch was for. It is a business meeting, like anything other business meeting. Starting to explore his previous feelings for Marinette right now would only complicate things.

The same time he set his coffee back down, Marinette walked into the dinner. She craned her neck to try and see him, and Adrien ended up pushing himself from the small corner table he was sitting at to wave her over. The contract that was previously on his lap was put upside down on the table instead. She smiled when their eyes met and walked over to him quickly. Only briefly did Adrien let his eyes wander down her body. She was looking extra extravagant today... though, he might only think that because of that tight feeling filling his body.

Moving around the table, he pulled out the chair for Marinette to sit on. God, Nino was right, this was really feeling like a date.

“So...” Marinette said as she sat down in the chair he had pulled out for her. Adrien returned to his seat and moved his papers back onto his lap. “You wanted to ask me something?”

“Getting right into it, are we?” Adrien joked, cringing internally at the sound of his voice. Why was he so nervous? He shouldn’t be nervous. It wasn’t like it would be a big deal if she refused. Marinette’s cheeks flushed pink and he tried not to stare. It was hard for him not to start seeing everything she did as completely adorable. Gesturing to his coffee, Adrien stuttered out, “I- I just mean, do you want some coffee? Or something? I’ll pay for it.”

 _I’ll pay for it_ , oh if Nino or Alya saw him now. They would be taking photos. Dropping a glance over his shoulder, he checked if he saw them anywhere in the dinner. He wouldn’t put it past them.

She smiled at him and nodded, “Sure... Coffee would be nice, I suppose. I just finished up my final project so I’m a little sleep deprived.”

Adrien nodded and looked over to the counter, making eye contact with the waitress. She smiled and started to walk over. Marinette asked politely, as usual, for some coffee and Adrien told her to put it on his bill. It wasn’t like coffee was expensive or anything.

“If you needed to sleep, we could have gone to lunch another time, it wouldn’t be a big deal.” As the words left Adrien’s mouth he knew that it actually would be a big deal because next weekend was the corporate event to announce Adrien as the new CEO. He wanted to ask her if she would go with him. To enable her to feel more at home at the company, of course, just to introduce her to the board.

Marinette shrugged her shoulders, “It’s alright. Besides, this is my last thing I have to do before I get my degree.”

“Marinette!” Adrien said, “Oh, that’s wonderful! You should have told me you were graduating already. Congratulations!”

She laughed and shook her head. Before she could respond, the waitress came up and dropped off Marinette’s cup of coffee. She looked to Adrien and asked if they would like some food too or if coffee was all they would have.

“Ah... Coffee for now, maybe food later,” Adrien answered. The waitress nodded her head, smiled, and headed back to serve the other customers. Marinette looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Adrien put the papers back on the table – still upside down. “I... Uh, I figured there was no point in staying for food if you... refused my offer, I guess. So...”

“Offer?” Marinette asked.

“My dad, he... well, long story short, I’m the new CEO.”

“Adrien!” Marinette gasped, “Adrien, that’s so amazing! And you were berating me about not telling you I’m graduating, I could say the same thing!”

He waved his hand, dodging the compliment. “It’s just because of biology, and –”

“Hey...” Marinette reached over and grabbed Adrien’s hand, stopping him from continuing. “You’re CEO because your dad and everybody important in the company knows that you will be best for it. It’s not just because your last name is Agreste.”

Turning his hand over so he could weave his fingers through Marinette’s, he didn’t hold back the smile that she caused. “Thanks... I appreciate that.” He squeezed her hand gently before Marinette released his. Were her eyes always this blue?

She cleared her throat awkwardly and Adrien started a little. “Uh... shit, sorry, thoughts went off without me.” She chuckled and Adrien tried to ignore the heat that spread across his face.

“Okay... so... as CEO, I get to make important decisions. Who do we use for models, different photographer agencies, and the designers on our brand.” As he explained, Marinette’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “I wanted to – I don’t know – make a bold move, or a show of... show of me being the new CEO, from not just being a figure head.” Marinette nodded her head and Adrien sucked in a deep breath. He pushed the papers towards her and gestured for her to flip them over. The moment she did, a small gasp pushed from her mouth and she looked back up at him with wide eyes.

“I want to hire you. At first, it would be... sort of like an internship. We would pay you way more, obviously, and you would have a permanent contract, but you wouldn’t have your own label yet. But that’s just so you get the feel of the company. But within... two, three years maybe, you would work with me and the head of the fashion department to make your own label. You would have interns and designers that you get to delegate to, and-and... and why are you looking at me like that?”

“Adrien...” Marinette mumbled. She looked down at the papers again and flipped them back over. “I know... I know that you want to be my friend and everything, but you don’t have to offer me a job to make me like you. We settled our whole... problem. We’re friends, it’s okay.”

“No! No, Marinette, this isn’t – it’s not me trying to be your friend. It’s me, a CEO of a fashion company, trying to hire an amazing designer before she’s scooped up by someone else.” Adrien said. Marinette’s cheeks turned bright red and she started to shake her head in protest again. He quickly reached over and pushed the papers back towards her. “Marinette. You. Are. Amazing. I want you for my company, and I want you to make a label for us eventually. The clothes you brought for that shoot was more than amazing. I need you to sign on before Runway finds out that those clothes were all you.”

Marinette’s mouth opened and closed, as if she was trying to figure out what to say. “I... Adrien, I am literally just graduating. My ceremony is almost two months away. I only have a small baby degree in fashion. People are going to think you’re crazy for hiring me.”

“I’ve already talked to Nathalie, she says it’s a great idea. If Nathalie supports it, nobody on the board will disagree with her.” Adrien paused. “It might just because they are scared of her, but it’s also because they know Nathalie would never let me do something that would hurt the company.”

“I...” Marinette looked down at the papers again. She tentatively flipped them over, skimming a few of the pages. “Okay... How about...” She looked at him, “do you have a pen?” Adrien all but fumbled to pull a pen from his bag that was sitting on the floor next to him. He handed her the pen and watched her as she crossed a few things out and wrote something. “Okay. One, you are not paying me this much. Not until I make you guys designs or a label, or any actual form of money. This is too much to start.” Adrien craned his neck to see what she was writing.

“No, that’s too low.” Adrien said. He grabbed the pen back from her and crossed out the new salary she wrote down. “Middle or nothing.”

She glared at him playfully and stole the pen. “Fine. We’ll go in the middle of the too. But I don’t want a raise or bonus’s or anything like that until I make my own label then.” Adrien opened his mouth to protest but she just gave him a look that caused him to shut up. He crossed his arms.

“On one condition,” Adrien bargained. Marinette gestured him to continue as she continued to look through the contract. She occasionally crossed something off and changed it. “You have to come with me to the party that the company is having for me becoming the new CEO.” The pen skipped across the page and Marinette hissed out a swear. Putting the pen down, Marinette looked back at him. “Please? It’s next week. Nino is coming and he’s bring Alya. If you’re going to work for me, you should at least know some people in the company.”

Marinette took in a deep breath. “Fine. I’ll have to finish up that dress I was making to wear but... I’ll do it.”

A face-splitting smile spread across Adrien’s face and he found it hard to sit still in his seat. “Great!” Adrien turned his body to the dinner counter and waved for the waitress to come over and take their order for food.

“Now about these benefits.”

“Marinette, I swear to god, do not cross out the dental.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, aren't you guys proud that I actually posted something? I mean, it's a little over a month between the update but hey, at least it wasn't two. Besides, I am beyond excited to write the next two chapters, and my christmas break is coming up, so after my finals, I should have at least one more chapter posted this month!
> 
> It will be great. Also, everybody, if you guys want to hunt me down and annoy me do death, do it on tumblr @thegabbing!
> 
> As always, I appreciate every kudos, comment, subscribe, and bookmark. 
> 
> P.S. remember all those chapters ago when I told you guys I would add on my plot points that I found funny? Well, this one doesn't have one because it wasn't in my original plan, but hey, next few chapters will have some!
> 
> Thank you again, I love you all <3
> 
> P.S.S. I've been informed that the France government pays for dental insurance so I wanna apologize for that part, I'm Canadian and our health care system is very similar to European systems. I should have looked into it more xD let's just pretend for my sake that France has the same system.


	12. Are You Looking For Wayzz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And u guys thought there was no way u would get another chapter within a week.

Marinette tucked her hair behind her ear as she and Adrien walked out of the dinner. They ended up going through the entire contract with Marinette editing things as they went and sitting together for two hours. Adrien had insisted on buying them food and paying for it, telling her it was a business lunch anyways. When they finally finished their food and fixing the contract, Adrien told her that he would get the contract finalized and they could meet up after the party.

Adrien’s hand fell on the small of her back as he opened the door for her and gently guided her forward. For a moment Marinette felt her heart jump. She needed to calm down. It wasn’t like she could just start liking her boss.

Boss... She hadn’t even said the word and it felt weird. Just thinking about it. Of course, she always knew that Adrien would end up taking over the company, even in high school, but she hadn’t ever thought deeply about it.

Though, she knew Adrien could do it. He was incredibly smart, dedicated, and honestly interested in the fashion industry. Though she did find him deciding to hire her a little odd but she was going to stop trying to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Standing on the side walk across from each other, Adrien smiled at her and Marinette tried not to remember the warmth from his hand. “So... Promise me you won’t try to back out before the party?”

“I won’t,” Marinette said, “I think Alya would kill me if I did.”

Adrien laughed, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck. “Yeah...”

An awkward silence fell over them. She almost felt like it was like an end of a date. But it wasn’t. Not that Adrien wasn’t worthy of being dated by her... in fact, Marinette still thought that Adrien was a little too good to be true. It was just... With their history, the history that Adrien didn’t technically know, combined with him now being her boss. It wouldn’t be a good idea.

“About that party, though!” Adrien spit out, dragging Marinette from her thoughts. “So... It’s going to be a masquerade type ball thing without the ball gowns, thank god. I hope the dress you mentioned would work for that.”

“Eh, it won’t not work for it. I’ll have to make a few changes, sure, but-”

“Let me pay for the material,” Adrien interrupted. He was already reaching into his bag for his wallet, shuffling around a few things. Marinette’s eyes widened and she tried to shake her head but Adrien was already trying to hand her some money. “Come on, you have to buy a mask too and you’re a broke almost graduated university student. Plus, you’ll have to make me a tie and get a mask for me so we match. I’m loaded, just let me spend this money on you.”

Marinette’s cheeks heated and she knew for a fact that she was blushing. “Adrien, I can’t just –”

He sighed heavily, still holding out the folded money to her, “I didn’t want to do this but, Marinette, as your new boss, I order you to take this money and spend it for the party.”

She couldn’t help it but laugh a little bit. Knowing he wouldn’t give up, Marinette took the money from him. “I just signed my soul to a dictator.”

Adrien smirked. “That you did,” He quickly leaned in and gave her a peck on her cheek, “I’ll talk to you later.”

Thankfully, Adrien began to walk to his car as soon as he pulled away from her. She really would rather not have her boss see her flustered over a friendly kiss.

 

* * *

 

 

Adrien sucked in a deep breath before walking in. The door chimed when it opened, alerting the woman at the front desk. She pulled one headphone from her ear and smiled kindly at him. There was a glint in her eye though that Adrien knew too well; she recognized him and was trying to keep her cool.

Awkwardly stepping up to the desk, he muttered, “I, uh, I’m here to see Master Fu?” His vice pitched up at the end of the sentence, like it was a question rather than a statement.

The woman raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t comment. “He’s actually on his break, right now. Weird, I thought he didn’t have any appointments right now...” She twisted slightly in her chair to start clacking away on her keyboard.

“Oh, no, uh, no. I didn’t have an appointment. I... yeah, sorry, this is a bad idea. I should...” Adrien gestured to the door stiffly and turned to walk out. He didn’t know why he had decided to come back after all these years. It wasn’t like Master Fu would even care, he had, after all, abandoned Ladybug.

As he pulled the door open, the woman on the desk yelped, “Wait!”

Adrien turned back to her and she was stepping around the desk. A small blush was forming on her cheeks but she persisted and said, “Are you... Are you looking for Wayzz?” His hand dropped from the door, causing it to shut behind him. The woman relaxed and smiled, “Oh, thank god, I thought so.”

Her hand jerked out for a greeting and Adrien gently took it in his. “I’m Louise. Nice to meet you.”

“Uh...” Adrien hummed, unsure what to say. He had never seen this girl before and he definitely didn’t know that she knew about Wayzz. She must be the new guardian that Master Fu was teaching. “I’m... well, I guess I’m Adrien now.”

Their hands dropped down to their sides. A knowing smile crossed Louise’s face. “Oh, you are more than that. He’s just upstairs right now, go on up. I’m sure he would be delighted to see you again.”

 _More than..._ He looked at her completely confused as she walked back to her desk, seemingly unfazed by what had happened. So she knew who he used to be, obviously. For a moment he just stood there, before stumbling forward to the stairs.

The staircase was narrow and steep, causing Adrien to grip tightly onto the rail. Each step shifted and creaked under his weight. He swore, Master Fu probably kept it like this to ensure he had a mysterious aesthetic. After all, whenever he used to visit him, Master Fu prided himself with answering everything ambiguously.

Why he thought it would be different this time, he didn’t know.

The door squeaked when he opened it, causing a green blob to flash across the room. “Ah, sorry, I am not –” Master Fu started before he turned around fully. His eyes met Adrien’s and he seemed to freeze. “I did not to expect to see you ever again, Chat Noir.”

Adrien flinched involuntarily at the name. He hadn’t been called that in years. To be honest, he didn’t think he deserved the title any more than his father deserved Noroo as a kwami. “I... I was back in Paris. Master Fu...”

Master Fu waved his hand and walked over to the table in the corner of the room. He moved a pot onto the hot plate to start some tea. “Come, sit, we have some catching up to do.”

Unable to bring himself to refuse, Adrien sat at the table, nervously tapping his fingers. Today had already been nerve-wracking, with hiring Marinette and giving her a kiss on the cheek. He instantly regretted it and walked away as fast as he could, but Marinette hadn’t told him in was wrong of him to do it. She must have thought it was a platonic kiss. Which was good... because it was. Absolutely a platonic kiss that meant nothing.

Behind the record player, he saw a green blob pop up, and Adrien turned to smile. “Heya, Wayzz.”

Wayzz yelped happily and flew over to them. He slammed into Adrien’s cheek but it felt like it was no more than a tap. “Chat Noir!”

Adrien tried to not react to the name but he found that it just caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand. “How’s Plagg doing?”

Pulling away from his cheek, Wayzz moved to in front of his face. He didn’t look Adrien in the eye, looking awkward reason.

“And that, Chat, is what I must talk to you about,” Master Fu said, giving him a small cup of tea.

After a couple sips of tea, Master Fu started to explain things to Adrien. Due to Kwami’s having to transform their users, it used up a lot of their energy. While they are connected to a human, they can continue to transform their user as long as they have time to recharge and gain some energy. However, kwami’s are never meant to be out for any longer than a decade. If they are, they begin to decay. Whenever kwami’s are given up, depending on the amount of time they were connected to a human, they must hibernate to regain their energy completely. They are completely unable to wake or communicate to anyone during this time. The time needed also varied to each kwami and each person who used the miraculous so neither Wayzz nor Master Fu knew when they would wake.

“But, Plagg’s been stirring lately! He’s always needed less time than everybody else. I mean... You wouldn’t ever be able to see him... but you could talk through me, if you wanted,” Wayzz explained softly.

Adrien’s fists clenched under the table as he scolded himself internally. He had never given Plagg a proper goodbye. After everything that happened, he only cried out that he couldn’t and that he needed to let go. Plagg nodded and watched him take off the ring. It wouldn’t be the same.

“Thank you, Wayzz,” Adrien mumbled anyways, “I appreciate that.”

Master Fu’s cup was set down a little loudly and Adrien’s head jerked towards him. He was looking at Adrien expectantly. “So, Chat Noir, what brings you here?”

His cheeks turned a little pink and Adrien ducked his head. “I... I was wondering if you could possible do something for me.”

Wayzz flew quickly back onto Master Fu’s shoulder. His head tilted as he paused in his flying to listen. Adrien held up his hand to gesture for them to wait before he turned to his bag. He shifted things around before grabbing out a small, black, envelope.

“I... I was wondering if you could give this to Ladybug. I mean, if she comes here... Does she come here?”

Master Fu chuckled softly, “Yes, young one, she comes here often, if only to check up on Tikki and this old man.”

“So... Can you give this to her?” Adrien asked, sliding the envelope onto the table. It was sealed with a cat stamp that Nino got him for his birthday. “If she doesn’t want it, just throw it out but... I can’t not try.”

“Of course, Chat Noir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> but truthfully, i didn't think I would get it either. 
> 
> This chapter wasn't plotted originally so little funny plot point here.
> 
> <3 I hope you guys enjoy and I will hopefully have the next chapter, the huge party chapter, next week. 
> 
> As always, I appreciate every single kudos, comment, subscribe, bookmark, aND ART! if someone was to make art of this i would die so someone pls do it thnks. Anyways, you can find me at THEGABBING on tumblr, follow for more updates about fics.


	13. Let's Get In The Limo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so.... this is a thing.

Adrien was practically shaking as he stepped out of the limo. He could hear Nino fumble out behind him, blabbing excitedly about what he hoped would happen through the night.

“Do you think GiGi Hadid will be there? Wouldn’t it be awesome if she was there?” Nino prattled on but Adrien’s eyes were set on Alya and Marinette’s apartment building. The bowtie he was sporting felt tight so he pulled at it. Honestly, being this nervous about the party was senseless. He may have had budding feelings for Marinette in the past but that was it. The past was done and trying anything now would be pointless, despite the fact that he still held some of the budding feelings in him.

Marinette had ended up messaging him and telling him that she would be happy to make his suit as well considering that they were going as a pair. A clothing bag showed up at his office – he actually had an office now – with a note from Marinette to let her know if she needed to come and make alterations. She didn’t, surprisingly. Everything was perfect with the suit and the mask.

Instead of having him tied up in full attire, Marinette went simple. He had on a plain white dress shirt tucked into some pants that were as black as night. She didn’t include a formal jacket, only giving him a black vest along with a long button up pea coat to wear outside.

It was the mask that he loved the most. Adrien didn’t know where she found it or if she had made it, but it was amazing. It was a small half mask that covered his left side of his face. Most of the mask was gold but it had detailed green and black swirling designs throughout it, framing it like a masterpiece. The bow tie she supplied matched the green in the mask and the gold matched his gold ring he always wore on his right hand.

Everything as absolutely perfect, even though he hadn’t expected any less from Marinette.

Nino must have seen Adrien’s tension because his hand clapped down onto his shoulder. Adrien practically jolted from his skin. “Relax, Adrien. It’s just a party. Besides, Alya and I will be there the entire time with you guys.” Holding in his snort was practically impossible. Adrien was almost positive that those two would duck off into a corner as soon as they could. “The girls will be down in a moment. Alya messaged me.”

Adrien waved Nino off and move back to lean on the side of the limo. This night was going to be stressful. Not only was he going to be reintroducing himself to people as their boss, but he was going to be worrying about the letter he left with Master Fu.

After he had given it to him, Master Fu told him to return Monday. All Adrien had to do was get through today and Sunday before he would be able to go back again. His mind was constantly going back to the letter, wondering if Ladybug had seen yet, if she had decided to respond.

The doors of the girls’ apartment opened up and revealed two giggling girls walking out. Nino’s hand cupped the bottom of Adrien’s jaw before it could drop.

Marinette was... _damn_.

Her dress was a floor length gown with a slit up to her thigh. Most of the fabric as a dark red that faded lighter as it moved to the ground, but half of her bodice and hip had a twist in the fabric that revealed black underneath. Small black spots splattered over the bottom of the dress, fading into black. Her mask was the size typical masquerade mask, but it was all black and red wires, dancing together to accentuate her startling blue eyes. Unlike normal, her hair wasn’t put down, instead it caressed her shoulders that were covered with a black shawl.

Nino was the first to step forward, taking Alya’s hand in his and complimenting her softly. Adrien couldn’t bring himself to take his eyes off of Marinette, completely enraptured by her looks. Marinette stopped in front of him, a blush already forming on her cheeks.

“Adrien, your bowtie,” Marinette murmured before her hands automatically started to fix it. Adrien lifted his chin to give her better access and he stared up at the sky. While her hands brushed his skin, Adrien tried to focus on anything but how good Marinette looked. The last thing he needed was to accidentally have a... reaction. The sexual harassment suit would follow as quickly as Marinette’s resignation.

“Ah... You...” Adrien stuttered, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth, “You look great.”

He couldn’t tell Marinette’s response to his pathetic compliment but he did hear Marinette whisper a _thank you_. Adrien heard the clack of Marinette’s heels stepping back and he dropped his head back down. The blush on Marinette’s cheeks had deepened and she kept her head bowed. It almost made Adrien want to tilt her head back up and lean in and –

“Let’s get in the limo!” Adrien squeaked out, his voice cracking worse than it ever did when he was going through puberty.

Nino raised his eyebrow at him but moved to open the limo door. Alya and Marinette slid in first, giggling to themselves about being in a Limo for the first time. The fact that Nathalie forced him to take a limo was kind of embarrassing but if the girls enjoyed it so Adrien didn’t mind as much.

After Nino, Adrien went in, closing the door. He scooted around the bench seat to the partition for the drive. He gave it three knocks and the car lurched forward. When he settled back onto his seat, he tried not to notice that Marinette sat beside him while the other two sat across. Attempting to be casual, he leaned back on his seat and gestured to the small bar in the corner.

“It’s going to be a long night, so you guys help yourself if you want something,” Adrien said. Alya instantly started to grin as she dug out one of the miniature bottles of rum. She cackled as she took a small swig and handed it across the seats to Marinette, who shook her head.

“Alya, I’m going to be meeting people for my new job. I’d rather be completely sober,” Marinette said, laughter in her voice.

She shrugged her shoulders, “Yeah, and everybody there is going to be tipsy. That’s all I’m having anyways. Just figured you might want some to calm your nerves.” Alya handed the bottle to Nino who took the rest of it. Adrien wished he could have some, if only to stop worrying about the letter, but he didn’t want any of the board members to smell alcohol on his breath.

“Just be sure not to include that in the article you write, Alya,” Adrien joked, causing all three of them to laugh. Nino was the only one out of the three of them who was going as a guest. Alya would have gone to the event anyways because she offered to write an article on it for one of the fashion magazines that follow the company. Marinette and Adrien obviously were going for work. Nevertheless, Adrien wanted Nino to come. One, to keep Alya company while he and Marinette made the rounds, and two, because Nino was his closest friend. He would have brought Nino as his plus-one if Marinette didn’t end up taking the job.

Marinette leaned over from her spot, so she could mutter in Adrien’s ear, “Twenty euros that they are going to define their relationship tonight.”

Adrien smirked and turned to whisper back, “you’re on.”

“Hey! What you guys whispering about,” Nino snipped with mock-annoyance. The two of them just turned and smiled at the couple who were already cuddled up across from them.

“We were just talking about how loud you guys can be,” Marinette teased, a huge grin plastered over her face. Alya and Nino’s cheeks flamed red and Adrien burst out laughing, his hand clutching his stomach.

Luckily for him, he had yet to actually deal with how loud they could be because Nino’s room wasn’t adjoined to Adrien’s. He almost felt sorry for Marinette, if not for her ability to tease them with what she knew.

“Oh Alya, you’re so gorgeous, please don’t kill me with your beauty,” Adrien moaned. He pitched his voice higher much to Nino’s displeasure. Before Nino could open his mouth, Marinette continued their charade.

“Nino, your muscles,” She huffed out a small gasp, “I just can’t even breath, my, my.”

Alya chucked the empty rum bottle, causing Adrien and Marinette to squeal and jump away from each other. Nino huffed and crossed his arms but he didn’t move away from Alya, which Adrien considered good news.

“Like you can talk, Adrien,” Nino grumbled, “You were just as obsessed with someone in high school as I am with Alya now.” This time, it was Adrien’s turn to feel his cheeks heat. He widened his eyes and tried to covertly gesture for Nino to shut his mouth but Nino continued. “This is an actual quote I remember, _Oh wow, did you see Ladybug today? Wasn’t she just amazing? I swear, she is the most perfect person I have ever seen. If I could date her, I would just die_.”

Marinette coughed roughly beside him. Adrien refused to turn his head and see what Marinette was thinking, instead he just glared at Nino. Alya had her jaw slightly opened and her eyes wide as she looked back from Adrien to Marinette. “ _Holy shit_ ,” Alya whispered; the words barely audible.

“It was a small crush, Nino, you’re over exaggerating,” Adrien said. His arms now crossed in front of his chest. “Besides, it’s not like I go on tirades over how I might just die if I never see Ladybug again. That was all you when we were in America. You kept begging for us to take a trip back so you could see Alya in person.”

Nino started to sputter and tried to deny the fact but both of them knew that it was true. Adrien couldn’t even count all the times that Nino whined about Alya on all his fingers and toes. He continually told Nino that he could go alone to Paris and that Adrien would pay for everything but after Adrien told him about Chat Noir... well, Nino said he didn’t want to leave Adrien alone. Before Nino could fire back a retort, Alya leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Aw, babe, that’s sweet.”

A dopey smile filled Nino’s face and Marinette and Adrien both whined, “Ewww.”

Alya just smirked and grabbed Nino’s face to kiss him head on. Marinette tossed the empty bottle at them, causing everyone to break out laughing, the previous tension gone.

Just as the four collected themselves, the driver partition lowered. “Mr. Agreste, we are pulling up to the event now, I suggest you and your guests prepare yourselves.”

“Thank you, Joe,” Adrien said before the partition was rolled back up.

It was only a few seconds before the limo slowed to a stop and Adrien popped open the door. Flashes from camera’s filled his eyes and he quickly brought up his hand to shield them. After he stepped fully out of the limo, Marinette followed suit. She pulled her shawl tighter around herself and Adrien watched as her eyes widened at the scene.

Adrien stuck out his arm with a smile on his lips, and Marinette hooked her arm through his. “Come on, Nino and Alya will catch up,” Adrien said softly into Marinette’s ear, walking up the stairs to the doors, “We should start introducing you to people.”

Journalists and photographers on the other side of the rope yelled Adrien’s name, asking repeatedly who Marinette was and whether she was his date. As they passed a couple, Marinette tugged gently on his arm, “Adrien, you should stop and talk to one of them.”

His shoulders shrugged but he could see the reasoning. Adrien scanned the crowd quickly until he saw one reporter who wasn’t trying to shove people out of the way. Adrien and Marinette walked up to the reporter. “Adrien Agreste, and you are?” Adrien asked, holding out his free hand to the reporter.

The reporter seemed almost shocked but shook Adrien’s hand never the less. “I’m Andrea Alonse with the online magazine Undivided. May I ask who your plus-one of the evening is?”

Her politeness caused Adrien to smile and he gestured for Marinette to answer. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I was just hired by Adrien for his company.”

“Will you be a designer for a label? You are awfully young, if you would excuse my candidness,” Andrea said, looking a little horrified that she had actually said the last sentence out loud.

Marinette took it in good stride, though, laughing, “It’s alright, I am young. I’ll only be an intern for now but I will make Adrien a label in two or three years.”

Adrien couldn’t help but smile softly at Marinette before he turned to the reporter, “She’s my first action as the new C.E.O. I’m sure that Marinette will have many good things to come. Now, if you will excuse us?”

Andrea nodded quickly and thanked them for their time before she stepped back. A bunch of other reporters started to push forward but Adrien and Marinette were already turning away. Nathalie would deal with the rest of the reporters, as she always did. For now, the night would be all about introducing Marinette to the company.

As they walked through the open doors, he could hear Marinette let out a soft gasp.

The venue they rented was beautiful. Huge open ceilings that lead to stain glassed sky lights caused beautiful dancing of colors across the marble floors. Around the circular room were balconies that could be reached via twirling stairs that surrounding the outside of the room. In the outer ring of the room there was a large bar and waiters filtered through the guests with trays of hors d’oeuvres. Nathalie had said it was the perfect place and she surely wasn’t lying.

“Oh my gosh,” Marinette whispered. Adrien was sure he wasn’t meant to hear it with how quietly she said it.

Carefully, Adrien guided her to one of the people standing near the door who were taking coats. Adrien untwined his arm from Marinette’s to shuck of his coat, giving it to the person waiting before offering his hand to take Marinette’s shawl. She slipped it off and handed it off to him before her eyes went back to admiring the venue.

“Adrien, this is amazing,” Marinette said. Adrien offered his arm again and she took it automatically, allowing him to lead her around the room. Heads began to turn as people saw Adrien. Whispers were thrown together and Adrien was sure they were talking about Marinette. Whether they wanted to believe that Adrien made a mistake hiring her, he was sure they would change their mind when they found out Marinette designed both their outfits.

They only had to walk half way around the group of people before someone approached them. “Ah, Adrien, it is so wonderful to see you again,” The person said, a smile on his face.

“Likewise, Jean.” Adrien released Marinette’s arm to offer his hand out to Jean but the man only looked down in slight discomfort. Jean was a board member that was particularly put out that Adrien became CEO. He had always known it would be happening so Adrien didn’t understand his problem. Awkwardly taking his hand back, Adrien gestured to Marinette, “Jean, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Our new designer. Marinette, this is Jean Clarade, one of our esteemed board members.”

This time, when Marinette offered her hand, Jean brought it to his lips and gave it a quick kiss. “Ah, yes, you look beautiful tonight.” Jean said as he released her hand. He looked at her, letting out a soft sigh. “The famous Dupain-Cheng. Nathalie explained you were an adequate designer.”

Adrien let his arm curl almost protectively against Marinette’s waist. As Adrien was about to counteract the slight, Marinette spoke softly, “Well, I’m still learning. I do appreciate you liking my designs, however. I worked hard in perfecting these outfits for tonight.”

Anybody who didn’t know Jean wouldn’t have noticed a small twitch in the corner of his lips. “You designed these outfits?”

Marinette smiled confidently, “Oh yes, and sewed them together. I’m sure they could have been so much better, but a week isn’t much time. You understand, of course.”

Sucking in a breath, Adrien pursed his lips. Any second he was going to burst out laughing at Jean’s face. He hid it well but Jean was absolutely furious. “No, a week isn’t much time,” Jean said, his tone completely cool, “I do believe I see my wife over there. Please, come see me before you leave, we must talk more.” Jean leaned in and kissed both Marinette’s cheeks before stiffly walking away.

“Holy fucking Christ, I just totally insulted a board member in the first ten minutes of this party, what is wrong with me?” Marinette hissed.

Adrien just laughed and squeezed his hand on Marinette’s hip. “No, it’s fine, don’t worry. Jean is an asshole, ignore him. He deserved it anyways.”

Marinette whorled around to face Adrien. His arm dropped from her hip but he watched her as her eyes widened. “Adrien! All he did was call my work adequate and I just... freaked out? That’s not something I should freak out about.”

Again, Adrien laughed and shook his head. He grabbed Marinette’s left hand and squeezed it in his. “It’s fine trust me. Besides, he kissed you three times. If he got to subject you to that torture, the least you could have done was knock him down a few pegs.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I suppose.”

“Now!” Adrien pronounced, bringing her hand to into his. He didn’t lift her hand to his mouth but he did wink playfully. “We must get walking, my perfectly adequate designer.”

Marinette laughed, taking her hand away from Adrien. She took a step away from him and said, “Not the time for your childish charm, Adrien.”

His heart stuttered over the sentence, familiar to him even after all these years. Time seemed to slow around them.

Adrien’s mouth opened slightly as his brain began to put everything together.

She was looking at him, her cheeks flushed and a playful grin on her face. His eyes couldn’t leave hers but he could feel his breath stop. With her black and red mask, the dress, and the sentence, everything began to make sense.

Marinette was Ladybug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am now in my home town for christmas! I am dying because I have allergies to all things that have hair and my parents have all things that have hair. Next chapter will be up in a week, no if ands or butts on my part. It will happen. 
> 
> As always, I appreciate every comment, kudos, subscribe, bookmark, and art! You can find me at TheGabbing on tumblr for more fic updates! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> QUICK NOTE! Marinette's dress that I described is inspired by http://auprier.tumblr.com/image/136239564171 this art! Follow the artist!


	14. To Mock Me

Adrien gapped at her, his eyes blinking dully as if he had just realized that she was standing there. Concerned, Marinette tilted her head and waved her hand in front of Adrien’s face. “Adrien? Hey, you there?”

He shook his head roughly to pull himself from his thoughts. When he looked back at her, a blinding smile filled his face. She had no idea that he could smile like that towards her. “Yeah, sorry, I just...” Adrien paused, looking down towards his feet. With a quick shuffle forward, Adrien took her hand again and this time actually kissed the back of her hand. Marinette felt a hot blush crawl up her neck. “I just realized how absolutely stunning you look tonight, princess.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at the nickname. Coming from Adrien’s mouth, the word felt foreign to her and wrong. The only person who she had ever let call her that was Chat Noir and he was long gone. When Adrien released her hand, he went back to her side. His arm looped back around her waist.

With a smile, Adrien asked softly into her ear, “Shall we?” When she nodded, he turned her to the rest of the room, leading them to new people to meet.

For the rest of the evening Adrien introduced her to other designers and board members. Some of the people he introduced her to looked at her with disdain and disbelief. They obviously followed Jean’s assumption that she wasn’t a good enough designer for Agreste Co. to recruit her. Others, however, seemed to not care about her lack of experience.

One of the designers gladly shook her hand and asked if he could work with her in the future. _If you did these clothes on your own in that short time frame, imagine what we could do together_. And she did. Even thinking about working with some of these well-known designers, some that she looked up to when she was just a kid, caused her heart to beat a little faster.

After a particularly remarkable meeting with one of the board members, who asked if she could design his daughter a quinceanera dress, Marinette dragged Adrien to the bar.

He clearly was repressing his laughter when she asked the bartender for two shots of whiskey. Marinette flashed him a glare. “Shut up.”

Adrien held up his hands in surrender, “Didn’t say anything, my lady.”

Marinette tried to hide her flinch at the nickname. Adrien had taken to referring to her as _my lady_ and _princess_ tonight. He would practically present her to people and casually refer to her as my lady, as if the nickname didn’t have meaning.

But that was the problem. Adrien had no idea how painful those nicknames were to her. Every time she was called my lady or princess, it caused her to remember Chat Noir and when he left her. Like a knife in her back, he twisted it every single time he said those words. Marinette couldn’t exactly ask Adrien to stop. She knew that those nicknames to him pertained no meaning besides friendly affection.

The bartender dropped two shots in front of them and Marinette downed one quickly, handing the other to Adrien. He followed her lead, but immediately turned towards the other side of the dance floor. “Oh hey, princess, look, there’s Alya and Nino!”

Before Marinette could say anything, Adrien was already walking over to their friends. They were standing near the classical quartet. Even from here, Marinette could see the love in their eyes as they looked at each other. Sighing, Marinette started to run forward to catch up. Her dress almost caught on her black heels but she grabbed the skirt before skittering on. When she finally caught up to Adrien, he was already talking to their friends animatedly, retelling their experience with Jean.

“And, as soon as he left, Marinette just freaks!” Adrien half whispered. Jean was on the other side of the room, as he had been for the entire night, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. Adrien turned to smile at Marinette as she stopped beside him, “Little slow there, my lady?”

Again, Marinette hid her flinch internally, but Alya didn’t do just a good job of it. Alya squeaked, causing Adrien’s eyes to flick over to hers. With her hand on her mouth, Alya’s eyes widened and Marinette just glared at her while Adrien wasn’t looking. “Uh... I just thought I saw GiGi Hadid.” Alya said, the made-up excuse sounding more like a question than a statement. Nino grabbed onto her arm, looking through the crowd and asking repeatedly where. “Oh, I don’t know, I think it was just a false alarm.”

Nino visibly deflated and Adrien seemed to accept the excuse because he went on to tease Nino about his excitement. Marinette gave Alya an annoyed look, which she replied to with one of her own. They had known each other for so long that Marinette could tell what Alya was thinking. _Holy shit, girl, he just called you the nickname that Chat Noir gave Ladybug, holy shit_.

“How are you guys enjoying the party?” Marinette asked, starting to wonder if she should have ordered more shots. Alya looked like she was almost going to start pouting, clearly disappointed that Marinette was not addressing the nickname.

“Ah, well,” Nino shrugged, “I’m sort of just following Alya around.”

Adrien laughed. “Tell us how you really feel, Nino.” Instantly, Nino began to stutter and wave his hands about. It only made Adrien laugh harder. He reached out and patted his friend’s shoulder to stop his freak out. “It’s fine, Nino. It’s no secret you aren’t fond of fancy parties.”

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Nino huffed. “It would be cooler if you just let me play my music instead of this stuff.”

“Nino, this stuff is classical music,” Marinette scolded Nino, a playful grin on her face, “It’s perfect for a nice slow dance, something you can have quick business chats to.”

“Dancing!” Adrien exclaimed almost happily, “Oh, Marinette, we should go dance!” Before Marinette could make up some excuse, Adrien was already giving her puppy-dog eyes. “Please? What kind of man would I be if I didn’t give a princess just one dance?”

Marinette sighed and nodded softly, letting Adrien take her hands in his. He led her into the middle of the dance floor, if one could call it that. A few people already on the floor gave quick hello’s and smiles but it was only mere moments before Adrien had his hand on her hip and the other holding hers at their shoulders. Adrien began to sway them, carefully moving them across the dance floor in a slow circle. Their dance mimicked those around them, but Adrien held her a tad closer than some of the other people on the dance floor held their partners. Marinette flicked her eyes from Adrien’s face to her feet a few times before she felt confident enough to not step on his toes. It wasn’t like she had never slow danced before; she was just out of practice and she really didn’t want to step on his feet.

As they swayed together, Adrien just smiled down at her. For a moment, Marinette couldn’t help but be proud of her handy work. While she knew that Adrien would have had a nice outfit on anyways for the event, it was nice knowing that he was wearing her work and her choices. The mask, although she didn’t make it, fit perfectly with the suit that she made for him. Before she had seen it on him, she was terrified that it would look horrific on him. Marinette had to continually reassure herself that Nathalie wouldn’t let Adrien go in something that looked horrendous.

After a few circles of the floor, Marinette found herself pressed closer to Adrien. Her head was practically on his shoulder but neither of them seemed to care. Adrien didn’t show any sign of aversion when she let herself fully lean her head on his shoulder and Marinette only relaxed into him. It was nice and familiar without reason to be.

The song ended with a soft descending note, making them pull away from each other slowly. They stood on the floor for a few seconds before someone bumped into them. Marinette tripped to the side, jostled by the passerby. When Adrien caught her by her hip and steadied her, she felt her cheeks heat.

She had just danced rather intimately with her new friend and boss.

With red cheeks, Marinette squeaked out, “I need some air.”

Adrien nodded quickly, motioning for her to go to the doors. “I’ll grab our coats,” he whispered into her ear before walking off in the other direction. She stood there for a moment, watching Adrien go and wondering if she should have told him she wanted to go alone.

Marinette sucked in a small breath, collecting herself, before she marched through the crowd and out the doors. Thankfully, reporters that had clung to either side of the walkway were gone. Either home or inside, she didn’t particularly care as long as she wasn’t bombarded with people now. It was the last thing she needed.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she waited at the bottom of the stairs for Adrien. It was only seconds before Adrien was running down the stairs, a grin on his face and her shawl in hand. When he stumbled to a stop in front of her, Marinette took her shawl and wrapped it tight around her. Despite the summer months, the evening had turned cold, making her shiver. Marinette should have listened to Alya when she warned her about the cold.

“Ah-” Marinette began to say, but Adrien was already shrugging off his coat that he had put on. He seemed completely unbothered as he did it. “Thank you,” Marinette mumbled softly.

“Anything for you, my lady,” Adrien whispered as his coat draped over her shoulders. Marinette shivered, more at the nickname than the cold. Her arms pulled the coat tighter around her body. She didn’t know why he suddenly started to call her that tonight but she knew she wanted him to stop. Every single time Adrien called her _my lady_ it brought up old memories of Chat Noir, and made her think about him... about how he abandoned her.

Marinette pulled in a shaky breath, deciding to ignore the comment for now. They walked down the street, ending up around the corner to the park. Adrien’s hand snaked around her waist and he gently guided her into it, “Come on, I want to check something out,” Adrien said happily.

She allowed herself to be led into the park, her heals clacking on the sidewalk. Her mind was swimming through memories of Chat Noir. She couldn’t stop thinking about him and wondering where he was. Marinette wanted everything in the world to hate Chat Noir, to despise him for what he did to her, but all she could do was feel completely broken over the fact.

Adrien stopped Marinette and she looked up from her feet to see the huge statue; the one statue that Marinette wished she had the power to tear down. Chat Noir’s foot was rubbed down from wear after people began touching it for good luck. Ladybug’s smile was clear on her face but she could see the effects of weather and age that changed the statue. With the statue staring down at her, imposing a fake friendship that she had with Chat Noir, Marinette froze. It was wrong. The statue was wrong.

“Did you know Chat Noir used to call Ladybug _my lady_?” Marinette mumbled. The words practically tumbled from her lips. She hadn’t meant to ask that, but now that the words were out, she couldn’t stop herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette could see Adrien nod his head. She didn’t let her eyes move from the statue but Adrien was smiling at her. It was the same smile that everybody in Paris had when someone brought up Chat Noir or Ladybug. It made Marinette feel sick to her stomach.

“Yeah… It was one of his signature things. You know –”

Interrupting him, Marinette continued her own thoughts. “Doesn’t really make sense…. That he called her that, I mean. Seeing as he didn’t really care about her. It was probably a joke to him.”

Adrien seemed to tense. As much as Marinette wanted to care that he felt unsure and awkward, she couldn’t find it in herself. Everything had built up too long, she needed to vent out her frustrations of Chat Noir leaving her.

Shifting his weight, Adrien cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know. I think he really loved her. Probably still –”

“If he did love her, why do you think he left her alone?” Marinette asked. A question that seemed to plague her every waking moment. Why did he leave her? Why did he say he loved her? Why did he do anything he did… Marinette would never know.

“I... I don’t think he meant to, Marinette,” Adrien said. His voice sounded almost hurt but Marinette barely noticed. All she could see was the statue pretending as if that’s who they were, that’s who they are. She didn’t even know Chat Noir’s true self. She hadn’t seen or talked to him since the day he tripped away, mumbling about how he couldn’t. Master Fu had been the one who told her he was gone, and how he gave away his miraculous so quickly.

Marinette couldn’t help but scoff. “Adrien. Stop defending him. You saw her at that press conference. Her face was... it was broken.” Her voice caught, cracking against her will. She didn’t want Adrien to know how much this hurt her; she didn’t need Adrien starting to ask why she was breaking over this but she couldn’t stop herself. Everything she kept bottled up, everything that she refused to say to Alya was coming out.

She watched as Adrien’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “Well… maybe he had a reason. He could have –”

Flecks of skin pulled from her lips as she bit down to stop herself from sobbing. She shook her head and closed her eyes. Her hands hugged herself tighter, giving her a false sense of safety. “No. He left her.” Marinette snipped quickly. Her voice continued to waver but she carried on, “Nothing makes that okay. He left her when…” Marinette cut off with a quiet sob. Adrien moved slightly beside her but she shook her head. Tears fell on her face and Marinette rubbed them away but tears just kept falling. She bit her lip harder. “He left her, Adrien. How is that okay?”

“It’s not.” Adrien whispered beside her. He shifted closer to her, “Marinette, I-”

“He pretended to be her friend, to be her partner in justice but he just got up and left. He didn’t try to help her. Instead of being there for it, instead of staying with me – Her...” Marinette couldn’t stop the sob that pushed out of her gut.

Adrien put himself in front of her, his hand coming up to caress her face and make her look at him. When she saw him, she could see tears filling his own eyes and her heart skipped. “Mari… I’m sorry. Oh god, Mari, my lady, you have no idea how –”

Her breath froze in her lungs.

It was like everything was coming together for the first time in years. Why she never saw Chat Noir and Adrien together. Why Adrien had no qualms with the superheroes. Why Adrien always defended Ladybug. Why he called her My Lady all night. Why Adrien was adamant about Chat Noir having his reasons.

He was Chat Noir.

Marinette took a step back, hitting his hands away from her face. Her heel dropped awkwardly into the soft grass, causing her to wobble. Adrien went to steady her but she just hit his arm away from him. She couldn’t think. Her body was thrumming with fury and anger. Adrien was Chat Noir. He was Chat Noir and he knew she was Ladybug.

“Mari, please, no. I’m sorry, I… my lady, please, I was… I’m sorry, I just – I didn’t know what to do,” Adrien begged, his voice cracking and stuttering at almost every word.

She shook her head, feeling numb. Marinette took another step back. The tears she was trying to hold back fell without a care. He knew she was Ladybug and he said nothing. “You…. You left me. You abandoned me,” Marinette whispered, unsure if she could even believe her own words.

“I know, I know, Marinette, please, I –”

“You abandoned me… and you… you came back to be my friend to _mock me_?” Marinette said louder, her voice shaking with a red fury and uncontrolled grief. She wasn’t sure what she felt anymore.

He moved towards her again. “No! No, it wasn’t like that, Marinette, please, my lady –” Adrien pleaded.

“Stop calling me that!” Marinette screamed. He moved back but his she could see the pain on his face as clear as if she had physically punched him in the gut. She had to get away. She couldn’t deal with this.

“I… I can’t do this. I can’t.” She mumbled. Marinette took another step back. And another. When she turned, she could feel Adrien’s fingers brush her arm but he didn’t try to grab her, obviously thinking better of it.

She couldn’t help but let out a small sob as she walked away and heard Adrien breaking down completely behind her. She wanted to stay; she wanted to just hold Adrien in her arms and make him feel better but how could she do that if she couldn’t even make herself feel better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ......................... Merry Christmas Eve?


	15. Chocolate, Please

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *evil cackle* Did you guys have a good Christmas?
> 
> (Huge talky end note, skip the ***'s if you want)

Her high heels dangled awkwardly at Marinette’s side. The leather straps were curled in her fingers. She was just barely holding onto them now. Two blocks away and five unfortunate waddles after the park, Marinette got fed up and took them off. While the sidewalk felt cool underneath her feet and sometimes a stray rock would push into her foot, it was better than wearing those things. Cute as they were, her shoes were not made for walking long distances.

She knew, of course, that the logical thing she should have done was go back to the party. She could have found Alya, gotten a cab for both of them, and cried into her best friend’s shoulder. But... as she started to walk back there, Marinette just kept going. Her feet continued to carry her forward and her mind was too preoccupied to stop them.

The heels clacked clumsily against her thigh with each step. It was only five more blocks to the apartment but her feet were beginning to feel too cold to be safe and her sight was still blurry from tears.

Everything in her world, everything she had built up and taped together and bandaged up, had fallen apart with a single revelation.

Adrien is Chat Noir.

Or he was, at least.

So Adrien was Chat Noir. The same boy she fawned over during the day was the boy she jumped roof tops with during the night. The smile that would make her stomach flip and her body melt during school was the same smile that would cause her to laugh and feel ever braver to face the new challenge ahead of them during akuma fights.

It was almost... wrong to think of Adrien and Chat Noir as the same person but no matter how long she rolled the idea in her head, it still made sense. She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been. A blind man could have seen that Adrien was Chat Noir. He was never around when Chat Noir was. Adrien had a strong appreciation for both Ladybug and Chat Noir, seeming to defend them any chance he got. In fact, there were times that Chat Noir would pause only to give Alya a few quotes for her blog, and he would always do so with a friendly and familiar smile on his face. She should have put it together, especially after the time Mylene turned into an Akuma.

Her foot caught another unusually sharp rock and Marinette swore. Hopping on one foot, she moved to the edge of the sidewalk to wiggle it out from between her toes. Tears blurred her eyes but when she finally got the rock out, she chucked it across the empty road.

Everything was wrong and weird and different. Not only had her entire life been turned upside-down but she probably ruined the best job opportunity she would ever get in a long time. After what happened, after how she had yelled at Adrien, she couldn’t imagine that he would still want her to work with him. The words she uttered mere moments ago made her want to cringe. Each word was draped in vicious cruelty.

Pain and anger filled her heart when she realized the truth. Through the emotion, she didn’t realize what Adrien being Chat Noir meant. When he left, it was because his father turned out to be a monster. Everything he had ever known in that moment changed for the worse. They were never close, of course, anyone who knew anything could see as much, but he was still Adrien’s father. It would have been hard for anyone to find that out, never mind Adrien who had already lost so much in his family. His father was the last piece of biological family he could call his own.

But he left her with nothing at all for two years. No attempt at contact through Master Fu, no apology or explanation. And instead of telling her that he knew who she was, he kept it secret. He hid it and pretended not to know until today... today when he decided to spring it on her like some kind of beautiful surprise.

 _Surprise_ , _your new friend and boss is actually the man who left you alone when you needed him most_.

The thought made Marinette want to scoff.

She was sure that Adrien’s heart had been in the right place, at least in his mind, but it still felt wrong. How long had he known and how did he figure things out? Did she slip up somehow? Did someone tell him? Had he just put two and two together?

If he found out during their time as the superheroes, she didn’t know if she could forgive him. It would mean that he purposefully pretended to know nothing, and left her even though he could have come back and explained everything easily. But even after what happened, Marinette still knew him, at least the very core of him. He would never do something so cruel to her on purpose. So he hadn’t known back then, Marinette decided as much.

Perhaps he realized before he hired her, which made a disgusting thought bloom in the back of her mind. It made her wonder if he hired her just to keep her close, just to try and make it up to her, and not for her actual talent.

Everything she thought about answered nothing and brought forth more questions. Nothing she could think of made sense and she didn’t know if she could face Adrien yet to ask the questions she needed answered by him.

By the time she got to her apartment, she was sure that the party had already ended and Alya would be searching for her any second. That, or the girl would be leaving with Nino on her arm. The thought made her a little happier, she supposed. At least one of them could have a nice night.

Too tired to do anything but too awake to go to sleep, Marinette parked herself on the couch. She put on a movie she had seen before and curled into a blanket she pulled from her bed. Eventually Alya would come home, and maybe she had already texted her but Marinette refused to check. After the fifth unanswered call and seventeenth text message, she turned off her phone. Though, before she did, she sent a two worded message to Adrien that she hoped made him stop.

Maybe she would be able to talk to him eventually but right now... everything felt too raw. It hurt to breath.

Marinette allowed the sound of the movie to fill her ears and even though she didn’t pay attention to anything that was happening, it comforted her. Her eyes drilled holes into one of the walls and with each moment her vision became hazier.

She wasn’t exactly sure how long it had been since she got home when Alya came stumbling through. Alya and Nino’s giggles drew her from her daze and Marinette noticed the movie was back at the starting screen. She pulled her blanket tighter around her and curled a little more into herself. Marinette grabbed the remote for the TV to start the movie again. If she pretended to be okay, she wouldn’t ruin Alya’s night. Tomorrow, after Nino left, she would talk to Alya.

Alya and Nino laughed and they said hi to Marinette. The two shuffled about in the kitchen, drawers slamming shut as quick as they were opened. The fridge creaked open and Nino asked what ice cream Marinette wanted. When Marinette didn’t answer, Alya walked from the kitchen to the side of the couch.

Marinette opened her mouth, “Chocolate, please.” Her voice cracked and she flinched. _Ignore it, please, ignore it._

Her best friend didn’t move from the side of the couch for a moment. The freezer door shut. “Girls?” Nino asked.

“Nino, you’ve got to go, sorry.” Alya said, absolutely no hesitation in her voice. Before Marinette could tell her no, tell her to enjoy her night, Alya was already walking back to the kitchen. Nino was grumbling quietly, confused most likely, but Alya shushed him, said something quietly, and Nino was out the door.

As quick as possible, Alya had made her a warm cup of tea, grabbed all the junk food they had in the house, and piled it on the coffee table. Without needing to be asked, Alya offered her a bowl of ice cream with her favorite toppings and prompted her with other snacks as the movie filled the silence.

Tears streamed down Marinette’s cheeks as she ate, trying to get herself ready to tell Alya what happened. She knew that her best friend would wait all night for Marinette to be ready. There was no words shared between them except shushed _here_ ’s and a quiet laugh at the movie from Alya.

When the ice cream bowl was empty, the box of chocolates half filled, and chip bag fallen to the floor, Marinette sucked in a deep breath. The movie’s credits started to roll and Alya didn’t move.

“Adrien was Chat Noir.” The words are hushed between the girls but they fill the empty apartment with pain and anger and despair. Alya doesn’t say anything as she wraped her arms around Marinette. She pulled her in to a hug and Marinette cried.

 

* * *

 

 

The message across his screen loomed over Adrien. It felt like it was an anvil dragging him deep into a pool of regret.

Last night after Marinette left sobbing, red from anger and pain, everything became a blur. There was him stumbling back to the party only to be put in a cab by the nearby Nathalie. There was him still crying as he got into the elevator and pressed three buttons until he got it right. There was him pretending to be alright as new guests filed into the elevator and them getting off at the next floor the doors opened on. There were miniature liquor bottles from the mini-fridge that probably cost more than going out to get a full bottle.

There were drunk calls, embarrassing texts and then there was the message that made him stop everything and curl into a ball of agony.

_Please stop._

Looking at it now, he wanted to punch past self in the face, not that the desire was anything new to him. Adrien remembered Marinette’s words, the betrayed expression across her face, and he felt like a knife twisted in his chest. Instead of stepping back, giving her the time she needed, he called and he texted and he... he acted horrifically.

He had tried to satisfy his need to be forgiven and ignored what Marinette needed from him. It seemed like it was impossible for Adrien to do anything but ignore Marinette’s needs.

His phone ringed from Nathalie for the third time in the past hour. A quick toss of the phone to the couch on the other side of the room made him feel a bit better. Of course, he knew Nathalie would eventually corner him. Whether Adrien would cave and answer one of her calls, or she would physically come to the hotel, that was the question.

But for now... for now Adrien couldn’t deal with anything.

In one fell swoop he lost everything he thought he had regained. There was something in the back of his head that told Adrien it was because he didn’t deserve to be happy.

While it hurt that Marinette was so furious with him, he knew she had reason to be. Adrien lost his father, yes, but could he not have sent a note afterwards? Leaving it with Master Fu as he just had but earlier.

_The note..._

Adrien bolted out of bed. He needed to grab the note. He couldn’t leave it there when he knew who Ladybug was now. If she saw it... it might make everything worse.

Practically tripping over his own feet, Adrien ran to the door. As his hand connected with the door knob, there was a quiet knock. Adrien froze. There was no way that Nathalie was already fed up with him. He assumed it would take her at least a few days before she came to the hotel, if he lasted that long.

A quick look out of the peephole showed Nino with a kind, albeit pitying, smile on his face and a bag of Chinese food in his hand. Without even needing to think about it, Adrien opened the door and Nino walked through. The man looked completely at home as he unpacked the Chinese food onto the desk, piling food onto two plastic plates he took out of the bag.

The door shut tight behind Adrien as he walked back to the bed. “How did you know?” Adrien asked. Nino and he were close; the two knew exactly what the other needed when something went wrong. Nino knew better than anyone that Chinese food made Adrien feel a little bit better about anything.

Nino shrugged his shoulders, turning around to present Adrien a plate of food. “Alya kicked me out last night. Something about Marinette, she wouldn’t tell me.” There was a pause as the boy sat down at the couch. He wiggled out Adrien’s phone from under him, gave his best friend a look, and put it down on the side table. “She was with you last time I saw her at the party.”

Adrien nodded. Sometimes, Nino was too smart for his own good. He knew that he would need to tell Nino eventually. Not that Nino would demand it of him, but rather if he didn’t, Adrien would possibly go crazy. He needed to let Nino know what had happened, that Marinette was Ladybug. But the thought of saying the words out loud for the first time... it just caused his stomach to twist.

So instead, Adrien ate. The food on his plate were all his favorite so he had no problem polishing off two of them. Nino ate in silence across from him. He didn’t pressure Adrien for answers and he didn’t give Adrien weird looks. The boy didn’t even seem to act like there was anything different. It was probably one of the things he liked the most about him. No matter what happened, Nino seemed to be constantly okay with waiting.

There were some times that Nino gave up on waiting; obviously, considering Nino all but forced the truth out of him after their graduation. But most of the time, Nino was content to wait. Although it had been three years since Adrien told Nino he was Chat Noir, Adrien had still not told Nino everything.

Half way through his third plate, Adrien decided it was time to tell him.

“Marinette was Ladybug.”

God bless his best friend, Nino just sat there. No questions that he obviously had dropped from his mouth, no yells of shock or gasps. Just a small head tilt with a quiet, “And?” Nino left the word in the air, giving Adrien the choice of filling in the blank. What question did Adrien want to answer, it was all up to him.

“She hates me. She thinks I came back and became her friend to mock her. I fucked up.” Adrien said. The words tumbled from his mouth but he didn’t stop them. “I should have told her when I first realized it at the party. Instead... I just.... I started calling her my lady and princess and oh my god it felt just like it used to and like we were kids again. I got so caught up in everything... in...” Tears were falling from Adrien’s face now, but Adrien pushed on. “But... she... what I did was unforgivable. I left her. I... Hawkmoth was my father, and I was... I was shocked and confused and angry but I shouldn’t have just left her with no word. She was owed that much. I should have waited. I should have told her why I needed to stop why I couldn’t help her clean up the mess he would leave in his wake. I should have –”

Everything Adrien wanted to say and needed to say fell silent in his throat when Nino put aside his plate and dragged Adrien into a hug. The tears he was trying to stop started to fall freely and Adrien sobbed into his friend’s shoulder.

“It’s just all so fucked up.” Adrien whispered, his hands twisting into the back of Nino’s shirt. His best friend didn’t say anything and pulled him tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!!!
> 
> Okay, but really........... I'm sorry?  
> Well, no, I'm not, but honestly, that was literally the best timing ever, you literally cannot tell me that if you were in my position when I found out Chapter 14 would fall on Christmas Eve you wouldn't have done it, like lbh. 
> 
> ***Now, to those who either are still angry or hurt by Marinette's reaction, I want to remind you of something. Like this chapter shows, Marinette obviously knows why Adrien left in the first place. Hawkmoth=Adrien father, and everything fell apart. I wouldn't say that Marinette is angry about Adrien leaving, so much as him... leaving her behind. Not that she would have forced him to stay as Chat Noir and aid her, but she believed that Chat Noir and her were friends, best of friends actually, and having him just leave, with no attempt at contact for two years, it felt like to her that Chat Noir was just playing a role, that everything was fake. 
> 
> What she would have liked to happen, possibly, was that either Adrien would have waited before handing in his miraculous and explaining things to her, or, like Adrien thought of, him giving a note to Master Fu when he left, to explain everything. 
> 
> I know there are going to be some people who disagree with Marinette's initial reaction, calling her either selfish or a 'bitch' for how she completely seemed to ignore what the situation did to Adrien. But I need you guys to think about what you would do in that situation, exactly how it happened. You had no knowledge of anything and just when you started to pull out feelings you packed away, you find out your new friend is this person who abandoned you. 
> 
> It is a lot to take in.
> 
> I assure you that many, if not all of you, would have reacted the same way Marinette did, or worse.***
> 
> Next chapter will be a special little chapter with actual fluff (yes you read that right, fluff). It will be a sort of celebration for this fic reaching 200 subscribers. Maybe it will cheer you guys up a bit? I hope it will. As much as I love writing angst, I have grown out of my desire as a writer to leave fics with horrific angsty endings.... mostly. I promise this fic will have a happy ending, though, at the very least.
> 
> As always, I appreciate every kudos, comment, bookmark, subscribe, and art! You can find me on tumblr at TheGabbing. See you guys next year.


	16. It'll Only Make it Worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised fluff to make up for the horrendous angst these last few chapters. Hope this cheers you guys up a little bit <3

A week later, Marinette still had not left the apartment. Though, Alya didn’t blame her best friend. Given everything that happened at the party, she wouldn’t feel like doing anything either. That didn’t mean that Alya wasn’t worried though. It wasn’t like Marinette to be this broken. Even when Chat Noir- Adrien, she supposed – left her, she was able to put on a brave face at face the day.

Luckily, it seemed that Adrien wasn’t as stupid as Alya thought; On Monday, Marinette received a call from Nathalie who told her that they were still getting papers in order so she wouldn’t have to worry about work this week. There was a looming shoot that Marinette was supposed to go to in three days, though. Marinette told Alya before the party that the shoot wouldn’t be her doing anything except for shadowing the designer there.

Every so often, Alya would knock on her best friend’s door. Alya brought her food, tea, coffee, literally anything and everything she asked for, not that Marinette asked for much. After the night of the party, Marinette hadn’t told Alya anything else. As much as she loved her friend and would wait for her to be ready, it was killing her to not know more. Alya wanted to know how it happened, what he did besides telling her that he was Chat Noir that made her so upset.

But Alya couldn’t wait every day for Marinette to be ready. On the weekend after the ordeal, she decided that she needed to take a little _me time_. If during her _me time_ Marinette needed to talk, she would pause, but it was only right for her to take a break. Alya texted Nino and asked him if he wanted to have some of her famous (or infamous as Marinette would have insisted) Chicken casserole. He answered within seconds and they organized a time the following day.

As per usual, the casserole was horrific and they ended up ordering pizza. A movie and entire pizza later, they were back in the kitchen, cleaning up the mess she made while cooking. Nino was scrubbing the casserole dish as hard as he could, after Alya gave up. While he did that, Alya worked her way around the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher and making them tea for after they were done. The silence, while not unusual for them, was abnormally heavy.

Thankfully, Nino was the first to say something, or, a word, at least. “So...” he trailed off. The dish stopped clinking against the edge of the sink but he didn’t turn around to look at Alya. She didn’t move from her spot on the counter behind him.

“So...” Alya added, waiting for him to say whatever it was he wanted to say. Nino was Adrien’s best friend, so he had to know something had happened between Marinette and the boy. The only question was how much he knew, but like hell Alya would be the one to ask him. The last thing she needed to do was reveal her best friend’s identity to someone that she didn’t yet trust.

“I...” words caught in Nino’s throat. “Well... what happened with Marinette and Adrien... do you... uh, know?” His sentence is broken, filled with pregnant pauses and stutters.

Playing dumb, Alya tilted her head to the side, even though Nino couldn’t see her. “Know what?”

Nino shrugged, going back to trying to peal the burnt bottom off of the baking dish. “Never mind.”

At first, Alya didn’t think she would prod him for more information, but the way he asked the question, it made her curious. Jumping from the counter, Alya mover over to the side of the sink. Though Nino didn’t look at her, she could just tell that there was something more. Carefully, extremely so, Alya said, “You mean... their...” pausing to find the right words, Alya sighed, “their part time jobs? In high school?” It was the best she could come up with. If Nino didn’t know, she could pass it off as Marinette telling her their fight was about her baking at her parent’s shop and his modeling on the side. Of course, she knew the excuse would be pathetic, she also knew Nino wouldn’t question her beyond that.

An almost relieved sigh came from Nino’s mouth. He stopped washing the dish and finally turned to face her. “Yeah. That.” It’s tense, and unsure, and Alya just knows that Nino probably thinks Alya is holding a grudge.

Which... isn’t a lie. She’s absolutely furious with Adrien right now, but she also knows that she doesn’t know the entire story yet. Marinette was her best friend, and even though she loved her, she knew that sometimes the girl didn’t always fall in the right. It seemed like a habit of hers to make assumptions that she thought would protect her from further harm.

Alya nodded her head, “I know. Marinette, she told me when we graduated.”

“Adrien told me a little after that,” Nino provided. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Alya didn’t know what to do with the information. Judging from Nino’s posture and stiffness, she doubted that he knew much more than her. Neither of them wanted to input their verdict or opinion.

Taking it upon herself, Alya directed the conversation. “It’s been a week. They still aren’t talking and Marinette hasn’t left the apartment.” The words are as quiet as they possibly could be with Nino still being able to hear them. She knew Marinette was down for an evening nap, so the only thing she was worried about was their conversation waking her.

Following her lead, Nino replied quietly as well. “Adrien asked Nathalie to cancel everything this week. She keeps calling me for updates on Adrien. She doesn’t know anything but I think she gathered it’s something about Marinette. There’s only so much she can do before Adrien has to go back to work.”

The tea kettle on the stove whistled and Alya frantically turned around to stop it. The last thing she wanted was to wake up Marinette. Nino shadowed her as Alya filled their cups. When she gave him the mug, Alya gestured towards her room and they moved their conversation there.

With the door shut, Alya said solemnly, “I don’t think we can fix this.” A pause. “I don’t think we should even try.”

“They’ve got to on their own. It sucks... but... if we interfere, it’ll only make it worse.” Alya nodded at Nino. “I guess we can only be there for them.”

Almost awkwardly, Alya wandered over to her bed. She sat down and Nino was by her side in a second. Both of them cupped their tea’s in their hands, looking down and unsure of where to go.

“Are you...” Alya began, but stopped herself. The question made her throat feel tight. It wasn’t like she necessarily had the right to ask the question, at least what the question meant. They hadn’t discussed it; it meaning what they are. There was an unwritten decision that they were just enjoying each other’s company. Speaking about it further brought it to the forefront, made it serious. She... Alya wanted it to be serious. “Will you guys be going back to America because of this?”

Nino didn’t look at her. “I don’t know about Adrien. With him becoming CEO, no one really knows. He might have to stay in Paris for a while, or he might end up traveling a lot until he is settled in the company. But... nothing is certain. As for me, though.” The boy stopped and he still didn’t look at Alya. All she wanted to do was grab his face and make him look at her. She wanted to know what he was thinking. Did he want this to be serious? Did he even understand what her question meant? “I don’t want to go back to America.”

“Why’s that?” It’s out of her mouth before she can stop herself but she doesn’t regret it.

His answer is just as quick. “I have a reason to stay in Paris now.”

It’s heavy. It’s full of meaning. But it’s everything Alya wanted. She tried not to smile as she moved one of her hand to grab at Nino’s. He shifted his easily into hers, their fingers interlocking like they were meant for each other. “You could have had a reason before.”

A huge smile spread across Nino’s face, and even though he didn’t look at her, she knew it reached his eyes. “I know that now.” He took in a deep breath, “So... are we like... official?”

The bubbly laugh that escaped from Alya’s mouth surprised her, but she doesn’t stop herself from setting her tea on her bedside table. Her now free hand grabbed Nino’s chin and turned his face to hers. Setting her lips against his, she gave him a quick peck. “Yeah, Nino... we’re _like_ official now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally was a ball of blushing squealing happiness as I wrote that ending. I mean, come-fucking-on, who doesn't love DJwifi. They are literally adorable. 
> 
> ITS JUST SO FUCKING CUTE!
> 
> Okay, enough fangirling over my own writing, on to serious shit. 
> 
> So, unfortunately, my uni has started back up again. And if any of you guys are long time readers, you know what that means.... updates are going to be sparse. Probably incredibly so nearing end of February. I have one class that 95% of my grade relies upon a group research project, one that has such a strict (but good) teacher that I'm sure he will murder me by the end of the class, another that has only 3 exams the entire year and all of them are short answers. So in other words, I'm going to be worked to the bone this semester. 
> 
> That means one of two things. 1. I will not be updating regularly due to no time to write. 2. I will be updating regularly due to need time to destress and writing does that for me. So.... like literally, I have know idea what this year will hold for RWY updates. I'm going to try my best though, or at the very least to update this fic back up to where its at a happy-ish sort of point so you guys aren't literally dying inside. 
> 
> ALSO! Adrienette month is coming up!! I don't know the daily prompts yet, but I already have possible ideas in the works for Feb. Lets hope to dear god I can maybe write some things for it? So be sure to user subscribe me for more ML fics, or just follow my tumblr because I post links on those too.
> 
> But, as always, I appreciate every comment, kudos, subscribe, bookmark, and art ;D You can find me at [for more gross and annoying updates about RWY and C&C](http://thegabbing.tumblr.com/). I really suggest you guys follow that, especially with me going back to uni now.


	17. Something Dumb Like That

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't judge me, this chapter is only 1.7k. I know my chapters typically arent that very long but normally they are over 2k - ahahaha says the girl who had a 1.4k chapter last week..... i suk

The whistling was what ended up waking her.

It was only actually squealing for a second before there was loud fumbling and it stopped abruptly. Marinette remembered Alya told her that she was bring over Nino today. Her best friend almost looked guilty when she told her but Marinette just flashed her an honest smile and told her to have fun. Besides, it wasn’t like Marinette expected Alya to just stop... having what every she was having with Nino just because he was best friends with Adrien. In fact, that was the last thing she would have wanted to come from this.

Reaching to her night stand, Marinette grabbed her phone to check the time. The screen almost blinded her when it lit up, and she grumbled.

_7:42._

She sighed, curled onto her side with her phone still in her hand. It was a week since the party – a week since everything happened. If she was being honest with herself, she would have said that she had expected herself to still be pulling herself together after this weekend.

But she wasn’t. Surprisingly and shockingly, Marinette found herself more stable than she thought she word. A couple days after the party, all Marinette could think about was how absolutely furious she was. Everything that she didn’t want to happen had somehow happened. Her two lives that she thought were separate for the longest time just slammed together in a completely unorthodox way.

After getting over her anger, she moved on to feeling guilty and embarrassed. At the way she treated Adrien, the things she said, and in general, how she handled the entire situation. Not only had she jumped to a conclusion that didn’t exactly have a basis, but she had completely run away instead of facing the problem head on.

From her guilt, she moved on where she was currently. Not necessarily at peace with how things turned out, not happy about it at all, but accepting that it had happened and there was nothing she could do to change it. The only thing she couldn’t figure out was how she would possibly be able to talk to Adrien again.

He was likely gutted by how she treated him. She needed to figure out a way that they could talk, _really_ talk, and let everything out on the table. Adrien needed to know that Marinette wasn’t actually angry at him as much as she was hurt and unsure.

She wasn’t sure if Adrien was ready yet.

Marinette received a call on Monday from Nathalie, telling her that her paper work got held up by the company lawyers and probably wouldn’t be done until the following week. There was no telling if that was an excuse or actually real. Maybe... Adrien didn’t really want to see her yet, not that she could blame him.

Marinette ran her hand through her hair, pulling it back in disgust when all she felt was the grease that coated her hair. How long had it been since she took a shower? How long had it been since she actually took care of herself?

Deciding on what to do, she rolled herself out of bed. Before she could worry about talking things out with Adrien, she needed to take care of herself. First things first, a shower. Gathering her clothes, Marinette walked to the bathroom that was attached to her bedroom. When she and Alya first got the apartment, they flipped for who got the room with an attached bathroom. Originally, Alya actually got it but within the first week, she gave it up to Marinette. Since Marinette was often working on her designs, it was easier to have an attached bathroom for her.

Unceremoniously, Marinette dropped her clean clothes onto the ground, stripping off her old pajamas. She turned on the water to the hottest she could stand it and grabbed her expensive body wash from underneath the sink. It was a gift from Alya last year and Marinette decided she would only use it when she needed to treat herself – and that was exactly what she needed to do.

As soon as the water was warm enough, she jumped under the spray. The water ran hot against her back and Marinette almost groaned at how nice it felt. Marinette took her time letting the water run over her, massaging some shampoo into her hair before washing it out thoroughly. After she coated her hair with some deep-conditioner, she got to work on washing her body.

Dumping a blob of the body wash into her hands, she lathered herself up. Sometimes, when she moved over her arms or legs, her fingers would roll over different scars. All of them old, at least two years or more, but each of them held a different story for her.

No matter how magic Tikki was, she couldn’t protect Marinette from everything. During the last year of their fight with Hawkmoth, his Akuma’s had gotten more aggressive. Instead of trying to just get their miraculous, they would try to physically harm them. One of her hands caught on a specific scar. _The_ scar, as Marinette had taken to calling it. The scar was the last one she got before they captured Hawkmoth – and it was the deepest.

Her fingers danced along the scar right below her left hip bone. Over the years of battle, she gained a variety of scars. Never had she actually gotten one so deep until that day. Marinette bit her lip hard, trying to shake the memory out of her head but it was already making its way back to the forefront of her thoughts.

_“Ladybug!” Chat Noir screamed. He rolled out of the way of the Akuma’s whip a split second before it hit where he used to be standing. Marinette’s legs wobbled underneath her. Her hand clutched at her side, bring away blood. Inside her mind, she could hear Tikki screaming, but Marinette couldn’t tell if it was because she was also hurt of it if it was because she was terrified for her holder._

_Blinking away the fog that was threatening to overtake her mind, Marinette grabbed her yo-yo, beginning to twirl it up. Chat Noir was still dodging the Akuma, keeping it distracted as she did her magic._

_When it was all over, Marinette let herself fall to the warehouse ground. Stray pieces of rocks and glass dug awkwardly into her knees but it didn’t feel like anything in comparison to her new wound on her hip. She was too exhausted to look up to the warehouse railing to see whether Hawkmoth was still looming there. Judging by how he had not swooped in as soon as the Akuma was purified, she guessed that he had fled when the battle got close._

_“Ladybug!” Chat Noir screamed as he ran across the warehouse to her. His eyes were wide and she noticed his timer blink, letting him know that he only had a few minutes before he would return to normal. Chat Noir’s hands grasped at Marinette’s cheeks, bringing her face up to look into his eye. “Stay with me. You’re fine. Come on, we got to get you to a hospital.”_

_Barely even able to move, Marinette settled on croaking out, “No... I can’t, Chat, my –”_

_“Screw our fucking identities, Ladybug! If I don’t get you to a hospital now, you could – you could –”His voice cracked._

_She brought her hand to press against his cheeks, smiling as he leaned into it. “No – No, Chat, it’s not – it’s not that. I want to know you – literally know you. But not like this, not because I’m hurt. I want to meet you like, at a coffee shop or something dumb like that.” And of course, Chat Noir’s signature grin spread across his face._

_“A coffee shop.”_

_Shoving him lightly, Marinette laughed. “Shut up.” She paused, looking into Chat’s eyes. Despite the grin on his face, it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He still was looking at her as if she was broken and he needed to fix her. His hands were clutching his knees, with nowhere else to go. Reaching over, Marinette pushed some of his hair out of his eyes. “It’s getting long. You should cut it.” He laughed again, this time seeming a little less worried about it. “Trust me, Chat, I won’t just bleed out. It’s not that deep. I’ll go to Master Fu, he can help me and Tikki at the same time._

_Chat looked at her skeptically. “Fine. I’m taking you there though.” Before Marinette could protest, his arms were already picking her up. One arm under her legs and the other around her back. The image made her snort. It was a_ princess _hold. If only he knew._

She let the water wash away the tears that were collecting at the edges of her eyes. Remembering old memories just caused the fictional knife to twist further into her heart. Marinette really wanted to talk to Adrien; she wanted what they had two years ago. She wanted _him_ – all of him. When she turned off the water, she couldn’t help but shudder at the rush of cold air that suddenly surrounded her. Marinette hopped out to try herself off as quickly as she could before she wrapped herself in her comfort clothes.

An old pair of stretchy sweat pants, an old knitted sweater that her mother made her, and the fuzziest socks she had ever seen. It was her go to outfit when she just wanted to feel comfortable and treat herself a little bit. As she blow-dried her hair, Marinette put on her favorite TV show with subtitles so she could hear it over the hair dryer. Steven Universe’s scenes covered her computer screen and she found herself giggling over different parts of her favorite show.

What she needed now was to take a day to herself, collect herself and gather her thoughts, and figure out if Adrien even wanted to talk to her ever again. After she finally finished drying her hair, Marinette finished bundling up to venture out into the cold.

Time for step three of her feel better routine; to her parent’s bakery to visit and get some macarons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so - I really wanted this chapter to have more to it, but fuck guys i just cant write this lately? I'm getting all stuck. So I'm hoping to have a little restart this week and take a week off. So next chapter won't probably happen unless I get back into writing it. I hope it is just a week break. Don't worry - I will not abandon this fic, it is my baby. I'm not even going write any new chapters of C&C. I'm hoping to try getting new writing done on other one-shot fics done and hopefully work on this in between things. I'm so sorry guys. <3
> 
> As always, I appreciate every comment, kudos, subscribe, bookmark, and art. Find me at thegabbing on tumblr.


	18. Extend an Olive Branch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahahahhahahahahhahah has it been a month?

While walking to her parent’s bakery, she began to piece together the made up story she would tell them. Marinette loved her parents and has often turned to them for advice over the years. But even though she did love them, she refused to tell them about her previous secret identity. It wasn’t that she didn’t think that they would accept it, or that they would be mad; it was more about her obsession for keeping her two lives separate. Alya would insist that she should tell them any time it was brought up. Marinette knew she would, eventually, but she didn’t think that now would be the best time to do so considering her mind wouldn’t be with them while explaining everything.

Besides, something inside of her told her that her parents already knew about it – to an extent. They at least knew that she kept a major secret in high school which continues to bother her to this day.

Over the years of keeping her identity a secret, Marinette became exceptionally good at fabricating lies on the spot. The one thing she never got better at was trying to figure out a back story to use while asking for advice.

It took her the entire walk down to form the fake story, and Marinette knew with more time she could make a better one but she didn’t want to waste any more time. A week had passed by with neither her or Adrien saying anything, she needed possible actions to fix the mess she made without forcing Adrien to forgive her.

The bell rang on the door when she swung it open. Instead of her parents manning the front, Nathanial was leaning on the counter, sketching a new drawing into his notebook. He didn’t look up at the ring but did mumble out, “Welcome to Tom and Sabine’s Boulangerie Pastisserie. How can I help you today?”

Marinette giggled, rolling her eyes at her old friend. At her laugh, he flicked his eyes up. When he realized it was her he quickly shut his notebook and started to stutter out an apology. It really didn’t look good when your boss’s daughter caught you slacking on the job. Waving her hand at him, she said, “Nathanial, relax. I used to help out in high school, I get how boring slow days can be. Why aren’t you in the back designing cakes?”

After high school, Nathanial found himself struggling to get his art career off the ground. With Marinette starting her fashion degree, she suggested he apply to her parent’s bakery. All they needed was someone to help out with the baking and sometimes watch the front when they were busy. So he did, and front just helping around, he ended up being a great cake designer. A lot of people began to come to her parent’s bakery and request him for work. He worked less now, after his first art show on New Year’s, but her parents would still ask him to come in when a high profile client wanted him to design a cake.

Blushing and scratching the back of his head, Nathanial chuckled awkwardly. “Ah, problem with a shipment. They both needed to figure out and since Mylene was busy helping Ivan set up for a gig today, Sabine asked if I could come in. Please don’t tell her I wasn’t paying attention.”

She rolled her eyes at him, kind of chuckling at his supposed fear of her mother. She didn’t understand why but people who worked for her parent’s had the tendency to be more scared of her mother than her father. Marinette chalked up to her mother scaring them with her unwavering kindness, even when she was furious. In her childhood, Marinette would hear her mother’s voice go stone cold while she was on the phone with people for the bakery. Everything she would say would be completely acceptable and exceptionally kind for the mess up they had done, like say shipping her half of the flour she needed or even four times the flour she needed. Her tone was what made people listen up and fix everything while giving her credit for the _inconvenience_.

“I did the same exact thing when I worked here. Can’t tell you how many times I was scolded for it. I won’t subject you to that.” Nathanial relaxed at her words, but didn’t return to his drawing. “I’ll head into the back. It was nice seeing you again.”

While walking into the back, Marinette heard Nathanial call, “Don’t forget about Alix’s birthday next month!”

“I won’t!” Which, technically meant, Alya wouldn’t let her forget. Nathanial laughed at her, knowing full well what she meant. It was a little funny really that her friends knew her so well to know that she was forgetful.

Making her way into the back was easy enough, just walking through a door into a short hallway. She could hear her parents grumbling at each other about the newest shipment, something along the lines of really needing to changing their suppliers.

“Honestly, I don’t know why you guys didn’t do that years ago,” Marinette said, walking fully into the back. In the center of the bakery’s kitchen were her parents, each standing across a huge pallet of flour. Probably twice of what they used in three months. They were supposed to have monthly shipments. Her eyes dipped to the flour then back to her parents. “Seriously? Again?”

Her dad instantly cried out her name, opening his arms wide for her to all but run into. His hands clutched her closely to his chest before he released her. Marinette automatically turned, stepping around the pallet of flour, to hug her mother as well. She stood on her toes to give her a kiss on the cheek before letting her go. “Honey, what are you doing here?” Her mother asked.

Humming, Marinette felt herself start to tense. She always hated lying to her parents, especially when she needed their advice.

_“Mom! Dad!” Marinette said, stumbling down the ladder from her room. Her legs might as well have been jelly for the way they worked. Just as she was about to call for her parents again, she looked over towards the living room couch. They both sat there, looking over their shoulders at her with raised eyebrows – as if what she was doing was unusual. “Oh... I thought you guys would still be in the bakery?”_

_“Ah, no,” Her mother shrugged, “After the Akuma attack today, all our appointments decided to cancel so we closed up early to watch the news.”_

_“I don’t know why they did,” Her father said, “Everyone should have known that Ladybug and Chat Noir would have it handled within the hour.”_

_Marinette’s cheeks burned red at the thought. They had actually defeated the Akuma within the hour and time to spare before they needed to run away from each other. Just enough time for Chat Noir to spit out that he thought they should date. “I need advice on how to politely reject a really close friend of mine without hurting him otherwise the entire city could be at stake.” Her parents rolled their eyes at what they thought was just their dramatic teenager._

“So... what you are saying is that you messed up with a friend and you don’t know how to fix it?” Her father clarified, his brows knitting together. Marinette rung her hands together in her lap, nodding awkwardly. All of them had moved to the attached office where they did most of their paperwork and interviews for the bakery. It almost felt like an interrogation with her parents on one side of the desk and her on the other.

Leaning back in her chair, her mother looked serious. Her nose crinkled in the same way it always did when she was thinking hard. It was one thing that she loved about her mother – whenever she needed advice, her mother really thought about the situation.

“I think...” she began. Looking back to Marinette, her mother reached over to squeeze her hand. “I think you already know what you need to do, sweetie.”

“I know.” Marinette whined, “I’ve got to apologize. I just... I don’t know how to do that without – I guess – forcing it?” She sighed, taking her hand from her mother to cross her arms. “I don’t want to make it seem like he has to forgive me.”

“Maybe...” her father said. The women jerked their heads over to him. “Extend an olive branch? Make it so he knows you want to meet but he can easily back out. On his own turf, so to speak.”

Marinette hummed. It was... actually a really great idea. She could call Nathalie, ask to set up a meeting with Adrien. He could easily tell her no. At least that way she would know for sure if Adrien was going to cancel the job offer or not. Even after everything happened, though, she didn’t think that Adrien would just cancel it because of this.

Pushing herself out of her chair, Marinette smiled widely at her parents. “Thank you guys. Honestly. I don’t what I would do without you guys.”

They laughed at her, waving her off, knowing full well that she was about ready to run out. Marinette quickly ducked over the desk to give her parents kisses on their cheeks before leaving the office. When she walked out of the back, Nathanial was dealing with a customer. Normally Marinette would just quietly get out of the way but Louise happened to be the customer.

“Louise! I... I didn’t know you came here?”

Smirking, Louise wiggled her eyebrows at her, “Master Fu loves your parent’s pastries. He sends me here when we have breaks in the schedule to get some.”

She chuckled, shaking her head. Marinette had thought that she had seen a couple old boxes from her parent’s bakery last time she visited. Walked out from behind the counter, Marinette said, “Well say hello to him for me, I’ll be seeing him in a couple days. I have some things to say to him.” _Like why in the hell he didn’t tell her that Adrien was Chat Noir_.

“Oh!” Louise said suddenly. She turned back towards Marinette, who was standing at the door to leave. “By the way, he has a letter for you. If I knew I would have been seeing you today, I would have brought it. It’s from an old friend and –”

 _Old friend?_ “I... what old friend?”

Louise sighed, giving her this annoyed look. Like she was supposed to know what old friend she was talking about. “ _The_ old friend, Marinette. Who you haven’t talked to in two years?” She meant Chat. Louise meant that Chat Noir had left her a letter. But that... that made no sense that Adrien would leave her a letter after the fight they had. If he wanted to make sure she would get it, he would have given it to Nino to give to Alya. So... maybe it was from before the fight?

Stopping herself from jumping to assumptions, the thing that got her into this mess in the first place, Marinette whispered, “When?

She tilted her head to the side, thinking for a moment, before saying, “More than a week ago? Maybe Friday? Or Thursday. I can’t remember. Either way, he dropped a letter off. Didn’t speak to me much, not like you do, but I think he was nervous. I mean, two years and all.”

Practically dropping her box of chocolates, Marinette took two steps forward to grab Louise’s hand. Nathanial looked over from the counter with a concerned look but Marinette didn’t pay attention to him. “Is Master Fu there now? Can I go get the letter now? If he isn’t when can I –”

“Whoa, whoa. Marinette, chill. He’s there now, go ahead. I’ll see you next time you come in.”

As soon as Louise said _there now_ , Marinette was already moving out the door. She barely heard the rest of her sentence but she knew that Louise would understand. She ran as fast as her legs could take her up the street. People yelped and glared at her as she shoved herself through some crowds and clusters of people. Later, she would be horrified with how rude she was but she couldn’t care now. All she could think about now was getting that letter, reading that letter. She needed to know what it said – she needed to know why Adrien tried to contact her before he even knew who _she_ was.

Psychic or maybe just smart, Master Fu was leaning on the front door of his shop. His cane wiggled awkwardly and he had a small unmovable green blob on his shoulder, but he looked the same as he always did. The hand not hanging onto the cane had a small black envelope in it.

Completely out of breath and unable to say anything as she approached Master Fu, he filled in the silence between her heavy breaths. “Miraculous or not.” He repeated, “You two are connected.”

* * *

 

 ~~Dear My Lady, Dear LB, To My Lady, To Ladybug~~ , Ladybug,

~~I’m sorry. I’m Adrie~~

~~I didn’t~~

I guess, first, I need to let you know my real name is Adrien Agreste. ~~You can look me up and everything. I’m a model.~~ I’ve been working as a model in America for the past two years, ignoring and forgetting about everything that happened... mostly ignoring my father... who, I’m guessing, you already put together that my father was Hawkmoth.

But... that doesn’t excuse me leaving the way I did. Even if I did still give up my miraculous, I could have at least done a letter like I’m doing now. I should have written this letter years ago. I was scared, hurt, and unsure of everything I had known but it isn’t an excuse. It was hard for me and I’m sure it was incredibly hard for you.

I guess you might be wondering, why now. I met someone who reminded me of you – headstrong, smart, amazing, ~~beautiful, perfect~~. Just a perfect friend. She reminded me of you and I knew that I needed to at least... I guess try.

And... If you would like, I would want to meet you... face to face, maybe, or maybe just texting at first. I want to talk to you and maybe... maybe we can be friends like we used to be. Or if you don’t want that, you can yell at me or ignore me or whatever you want. I would love to just talk with you and explain what happened with everything and you can too. ~~So just~~

Here’s my number if you just want to text me. ~~If you want to meet me, just come to my company (Agreste Co.) and let them know that you are Lady and I’m expecting you. They will let you right up. I guess... maybe call first to see if I’m in but... Y~~

I’m sorry.

 ~~Adrien Agreste Chat Noir~~ Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Below is an update I posted on my blog -  
> Okay. so….. Big announcement. 
> 
> I am no longer going to be updating both of my long fics weekly.
> 
> they will still be updated! I repeat, I am not quitting RWY or C&C.
> 
> But. Classes are getting hard, uni can be exhausting. I just do not have time to do two fanfiction chapters every single week on top of studying for midterms and writing a entire research project (my group has dubbed me as leader unfortunately).
> 
> So… They will now update biweekly. This week shall be whatever I end up finishing. I am sorry, truly, but my RWY readers have been through this before. hell, you guys went three months (or was it two) without an update. My C&C followers, you guys have probably not unless you also read RWY. 
> 
> I want to do biweekly updates, I really really want to keep up on biweekly updates. But, don’t get mad if some times I don’t update. Writing is hard, especially with university on top of that. 
> 
> I will try, ill try as hard as I can. <3 thank you for understanding.
> 
> \- 
> 
> That being said... Obviously, I did not update that same week. BUT! This was mostly because I found this chapter.... inadequate. I couldn't set it up nicely, I didn't know how to flip or twist it, and ultimately, i kinda hate it. I'm not happy with it. At all. But I don't think I ever will be so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> The next chapter should be... easier? I think it will be. It's gonna be kinda angsty but kinda fluffy? it will be nice i promises. Maybe. 
> 
> Anyways, as always, i appreciate every comment, kudos, bookmark, and subscribe! We've got 225 subs on this now, I love every single one of you! You can find me on tumblr at thegabbing


	19. I Would Like That

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... hello

Nathalie convinced him to go in on Tuesday. Technically it was more that Nino had brought over Alya to the hotel and their rooms were right next to each other than Nathalie’s convincing. Of course, her telling him that the board members were making a stink about his lack of appearances did help convince him to go.

He knew that he needed to go to work. As much as a mess his personal life was currently, he couldn’t just slack off as the new CEO of the company. Nathalie covered for him as long as she could.

Which was why he was sitting in the board room, rolling his eyes at the third old, white, man, to question his qualifications on running a fashion company. He almost wanted to snip right back at what qualifications did any of them have to run a company that mostly had designers who made feminine clothing. Honestly, he would wonder how the hell the company’s board was such shit except he knew exactly how it got that way. His father let everything go once his mother died. Everything crumbled apart to nothing because he was obsessed with the miraculouses.

Unfortunately, Adrien didn’t roll his eyes subtle enough and the man pointed directly at him. “Look! This boy is ungrateful! He went off to America to fiddle around and party while we ran the company. What right does he have to be a CEO of this company?”

Nathalie fixed a glare at the man, making him wilt a little. Before she could say anything, Adrien shrugged his shoulders and spoke for himself. “You aren’t exactly lying. I don’t, and really shouldn’t, have a right to be CEO to this company. But I’d say that you guys don’t have any more qualifications that I do. You are all business men. None of you actually know anything that goes on within the Fashion Industry.” The board member who called him out started to sputter but Adrien continued. “Sure, you go to fashion weeks, you _oh_ and you _awe_ over the new designs but I doubt you can actually tell me any of the designers besides the ones you wear. Out of anyone in this room the CEO should be Nathalie.”

All the heads in the room flicked towards the woman, who instantly switched her glare towards Adrien. Both of them knew she didn’t want to be CEO. Despite her filling the role for the past two years, it had never been long term desire. The last thing she wanted was to constantly deal with 40-year old men arguing about which white male designer they should recruit. “But Nathalie doesn’t want to be. So it falls to me because I am the next best candidate. I am the legal ruling power in this company. As much as you all like to think you guys have power in this, I own the most of this company. I own more than all of you combined. So I will remake this company from the bottom up and I’ll do it without your help if I have to.”

Complete silence fell over the board room. A glance towards Nathalie showed that she was proud of him, despite the expression on her face barley changing. Adrien got pretty good at reading her expressions. A snort made Adrien look across the table. It was one of the only board members who wasn’t white. Adrien remembered him asking Marinette if she would be willing to design a quinceanera dress for his daughter, Mr. Sanchez. With a huge smile on his face, the man leaned back in his chair. “Lucas, I think what Mr. Agreste means to say, is, well... Suck it.” Lucas’s face turned red. Shrugging his shoulders, the man smiled. “I agree with Mr. Agreste. All of us are woefully underqualified. Besides. If his father decided that this would be the direction the company would go in then that is the way we should be going.” Standing up from his chair, Mr. Sanchez buttoned his suit back up. “Now, if you excuse me, my wife is expecting me to take her out to lunch.”

Everyone in the room seemed to be confused as to what they should do as Mr. Sanchez left the room, still chuckling to himself at the situation. Adrien couldn’t decide whether to laugh or leave the room himself. Lucky for him, Nathalie pushed herself out of the chair and easily directed everyone. “I believe everything we wanted to discuss today has been talked about. Until next board meeting, gentlemen.” With a short inclination of her head, Nathalie practically ordered all the men to stand and leave.

They all whispered and grumbled amongst themselves as they left, looking back to Adrien with disdain tainting their gazes. Adrien continued to stay where he was, pretending to busy himself by gathering a folder of papers Nathalie given him. It contained everything he needed to know about all the board members, something she prepared for him to make the transition a little easier. As all the men left the room, Nathalie walked over to Adrien’s side.

When the last person left, she said, “Do you need more time, Adrien?”

His head swiveled, looking at Nathalie with wide eyes. “What?”

“Your father thought you were ready – that doesn’t mean you are. If you want, you can take a step back –”

“You mean step back from being CEO?” Adrien asked. Nathalie nodded her head once. “I can’t, we already had the party to announce me as the CEO.”

Nathalie pressed her lips together before answering. “Well, you may not be able to officially step back from the position, I can take on the responsibilities, leaving you as a public figurehead. No one will know you are not actually the CEO in the full sense except for me.”

Adrien stared at her with wide eyes. While he knew that Nathalie was completely willing to do this for him, he knew that it wasn’t actually what she wanted. She would do it if he needed her to – and that was the last thing he wanted. Nathalie was the closest thing he had to family, he didn’t need to put any more burden on her than she already has. He shook his head almost violently, saying, “No. Absolutely not. I can handle this. There’s just... Some things happening in my personal life. It’s fine.”

She gave him an uncertain look but accepted the answer. Taking some papers out from behind his back, she laid them out on the table. “In that case, Adrien, this is Marinette’s final contract. You need to look it over before we have her sign it. When you give me the okay, I will call Marinette in to sign it. She will start as soon as possible afterwards.”

“Oh,” Adrien mumbled, looking down towards the papers. He felt his heart twist a little in his chest but he hoped it wasn’t that noticeable to Nathalie. “Alright. I will look over this as soon as I get back to my office. Thank you, Nathalie.”

Nodding her head, Nathalie left the board room. Adrien could tell that Nathalie was still a little unsure about his answer, but she trusted enough for him to tell her if he needed help. The only reason why Adrien was so sure that he would be able to take on this new role as CEO was because Nathalie would be there with him every step of the way. Without her, Adrien would have never taken the job, not even if his father wasn’t Hawkmoth.

Sighing to himself, Adrien gathered Marinette’s contract and walked back to his office, which was only around the corner. He needed to look it over as soon as possible. The last thing he wanted was to make Marinette feel like he wanted nothing to do with her now. Even if she didn’t want anything to do with him, he needed to make sure that the door was still open.

After turning the corner towards his office, his receptionist looked up from his desk. “Oh! Sir, you have someone waiting on line five for you. She wouldn’t stop calling after I told her when you were in a meeting.”

Adrien rolled his eyes, already knowing who it was. “Let me guess, her name was Chloe?”

“Uh... yes, how’d you know?”

He shrugged his shoulders, walking past his receptionist into his office. Before his office door shut, he said quickly, “old friends!” Seemingly accepting that answer, his receptionist turned back to his work, typing away at his keyboard.

Adrien dropped Marinette’s contract on his desk, walking around it to plop down in his desk chair. Just as his receptionist warned him, there was a blinking red light on his phone, noting someone waiting on the other line. He grabbed it quickly, pushing it up to his ear. “Hey, Chloe.”

“Were you ever going to tell me? I mean, honestly, Adrien. What happened to us being friends? Just because you are back in Paris and I’m not, doesn’t mean you can just drop me out of your life,” Chloe snipped, her voice harsh.

Flinching, Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, an awkward reaction he couldn’t help but do, even though Chloe couldn’t see him. “I was going to call you, Chloe, it’s just... it’s been a busy week.”

“Well, I would hope so, considering you’re now a –” On Chloe’s end of the phone call, Adrien heard a door open and close, some muffled speech, before Chloe continued, “Sorry, Sabrina came back from grabbing us coffee. She says hello.”

“Tell her hello too. Where are you guys this month?” Adrien asked, trying to get the attention.

The answer was quick and sharp, which was a usual response, “Peru, it’s beautiful. Don’t change the subject. How was it that you got too busy to even send me a text message about you becoming the new CEO of Agreste co.?”

“Uh...” Adrien mumbled awkwardly. Between getting Marinette’s contract ready, the party, and the entire... well, shit show that the realization lead to, Adrien honestly hadn’t remembered to let Chloe know.

“Honestly, Adrien. You’d think that you didn’t want to see me,” Chloe grumbled. To anyone else, they would have brushed off her comment as sass and annoyance, but Adrien could tell otherwise. She was truly worried that Adrien didn’t want her to come down for the party, and that’s why he didn’t tell her.

“No, Chloe! Of course, I want to see you! I just didn’t want to take away from your time away from Paris. You and Sabrina deserve it,” Adrien said. Not a completely true excuse but not exactly dishonest either.

The sigh that came from the other end could probably freeze over hell. “Oh, please. Adrien, we’ve been traveling for a year, it’s about time for us to come back to Paris and settle back in.”

Adrien couldn’t help but smile at the thought of that. Having Nino has been great, but having another friend back in Paris, especially now that he was CEO, would be amazing. “Really? That’s great!”

There was shuffle of fabric on the other end of the phone and some shifting going on before Chloe spoke again, “Yeah. Besides, Sabrina finished visiting most of the places on her wish list and we can see other places later. It will be fine. Once I’m back, I’ll be throwing us an actual party to celebrate your new position. Not one of those stuffy company parties. It will be amazing. You can invite whoever you want... your mystery girl, maybe, have you seen her again?”

Adrien froze in his seat, completely forgetting that he told Chloe. It was when he came back to see Chloe and Sabrina for a weekend last year. Chloe had been furious at him, mad that he couldn’t stay longer and that it was his first time coming back to Paris in a year. After the reception, she cornered him, drunk he might add, and slurred her way into making him spit out everything about his past as Chat Noir. There was a lot of confusion, and confirming it again after she slept off her drunkenness, but she eventually accepted it and understood why he left so quickly. She knew that Adrien used to adore Ladybug, and she also referred to her has his mystery girl whenever someone was around who didn’t know about the secret.

“I... well... she’s not much of a mystery anymore.”

The shock was almost audible. There were some rushed words between her and Sabrina before he heard the door slam, most likely the bathroom door. “Adrien Agreste! First you neglect to tell me about your new position and now you forgot to tell me this! Who was it?”

His lip was pulled between his teeth as he tried to figure out what to say. When everything first went down, he had blurted out to Nino who Marinette was. But now that it was a week later, he wasn’t too sure if it was his secret to tell anybody. So instead of telling Chloe, like he so desperately wanted to do, he just sighed out, “I don’t know if I should tell you, Chloe. I wasn’t really supposed to find out in the first place and it isn’t my secret to tell.”

She hummed on the other line, the distinct tapping of her nails on the counter filling the silence. “Alright. I’ll give you that. I’m taking it didn’t go well though, by what you are saying.”

“No... No, it did not.” Adrien’s voice felt thick in his throat. Just as he opened his mouth to explain more to her, his assistant knocked on the door. He motioned for him to peek in and pulled his phone from his ear. Chloe could wait for a moment; she knew how it was.

 “Sir, Ms. Dupain-Cheng is here to see you.” He said.

“I’ve got to go,” Adrien sputtered out, fumbling with his phone to hang up. It clattered onto his desk as he pushed himself to stand. Looking at his frazzled assistant, he asked, or really stated, “What?”

His assistant shrugged his shoulders. “She is refusing to leave. She said, uh... She said to tell you that Ms. Lady wants to see you now? Which.... Makes no sense and I –”

“Send her in,” Adrien interrupted, forgetting about absolutely everything he knew. His assistant raised his eyebrows at him but left to go grab the girl.

_Ms. Lady._ He had forgotten to grab the letter. He was supposed to go get the letter and rip it up but he had forgotten too. Which meant Master Fu had given it to her. Which meant she was probably confused, and furious and –

The knock was what broke Adrien out of his thoughts. Three hard raps on his glass door led him to turn his head, seeing his assistant standing outside with Marinette standing right beside him. Adrien gulped and waved his assistant in.

His assistant gestured for Marinette to step forward, which she did. Giving an odd look to the both of them, he slowly said, “If you need me, I will be at my desk.” Adrien watched his assistant as he walked out of the room, noting how as soon as he was out of the door he looked back at them.

As soon as his assistant left his sight through the blinds, Adrien turned his attention to Marinette. She, as usual, looked amazing. Wearing one of her original outfits he had seen her design back in high school, Marinette shifted on her feet. Adrien opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it when Marinette opened hers.

She sighed. Opening her mouth again, she let out a small squeak of _I_ but shut her mouth not a second later. Looking over her shoulder once, Marinette shifted her weight again. “Do you – Could...” A pause. “Could we go get some coffee?”

A breath of relief escaped him before he could stop it. Thankfully Marinette took it the right way because a shy smile spread across her lips. He nodded his head. “Yeah... I would like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really got no excuse for the lack of updates on this front. So ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at thegabbing.


	20. Not The Point

The walk to the coffee shop was silent. After Adrien let his receptionist he would be out for a while, they quickly made their way downstairs and out of the building. While they were inside the quiet was bearable because most of the time people would stop and say hi to them. The two of them would smile politely on their intruder. Even if the person didn’t know they were intruding on something, it didn’t make them any less of one. The instant they stepped outside, however, onto the busy street downtown, it seemed like everything changed. It wasn’t quiet outside, not by any means, but between the two of them, no words were shared. Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien could see Marinette open her mouth a couple of times and think better of it.

“Is... Is this okay?” Adrien asked as they approached a café. It wasn’t exactly slow, with workers running in and out with stacks of coffee, but there wasn’t much people sitting down at the tables, and he supposed that might be what they were looking for.

Marinette nodded her head, not bothering to speak. They walked through the door and he motioned for Marinette to find them a seat. She would know if they needed an area that was more away from people or not. He walked to the counter to pick them up some coffee. He knew Marinette’s order like the back of his hand, after getting coffee for her during high school so often. He just hoped she hadn’t changed her tastes.

Since they came in at a lull in the flow of customers, Adrien was served quickly and he was able to wander to the back corner of the café to see Marinette. He gently placed her Dirty Chai Latte in front of her and slid into the seat sitting opposite from her. His back was to the café, which unforuntately meant he would have nowhere to look but Marinette.

A whispered thank you came from Marinette as she brought the drink up to her lips. He followed suit, taking a drink out of his overly sweetened latte. He blamed his mother on his sweet tooth. The awkward silence between them persisted as they drank, neither one wanting to be the first to speak. But Adrien knew he couldn’t just wait around to say the one thing he had to say.

“I’m sorry,” Marinette’s eyes snapped up to his, as if she was shocked to hear those words fall from his mouth. He waited a moment to see if Marinette would say anything to it before continuing. “I just wanted to...” he waved his hand slightly, “let you know, I guess.”

“For what?” Marinette asked.

“For?” Adrien started, a little confused, “For what? What do you mean? I’m sorry for everything. For leaving you, for not contacting you, for doing what I did at the party. For... for everything.”

Marinette shook her head at his response. “You don’t have to be sorry for that. I understand now why you did those things.”

“But you didn’t before.”

She sighed, “Adrien, that’s not the point.”

“No, Marinette, that’s exactly the point. Sure, yeah, it might be understandable why I left but you didn’t know that. For all you knew I just got tired of you. I should have at least left a note with Master Fu... Like I did,” Adrien said. He could feel the anger in his body beginning to shake. Not at Marinette, never at her, but at himself, but most of all at the situation. How had his life turned from being home schooled for years to abandoning his ex-superhero partner when she needed him. If you would have told him six years ago that he would be here now, he would have laughed, hell, he still laughs about it now. It barely makes any sense to him.

She bit her lip and looked back down at her cup. Her fingers twitched across the lid, tapping the edged to make sure it was sealed, even though they both knew it was. “I... I’m not mad anymore. I don’t think I ever was. Just hurt. A lot of things happened at once... two years ago, and at the party. It was overwhelming.”

“So... you...” Adrien began. He sucked in a deep breath before continuing, “You forgive me?”

“No.” The word comes as a blow, but for some reason Adrien almost expected it. Marinette looks back up at him, her eyes filled with complicated emotions and uncertainty. “I... I can’t forgive you yet.”

“Okay.”

“I want to!” Marinette spits out quickly, too quickly for it to be half as honest. “I really... I wish I could. I understand why you left. I get it. You don’t have to say sorry for it. But....” Marinette blinked away some unshed tears, “It hurt. A lot. I’m not going to get over it after finding out the whole story only a little while ago.”

Adrien nodded his head. He didn’t expect her to forgive him to be honest, not ever. But the fact that Marinette wish she could was a good sign. “Of course.”

“I think I could... it might take a long while, but I think I can get there.”

And that – that was what mattered to him. He didn’t care if Marinette didn’t forgive him right now. He didn’t care that Marinette was still angry at him. He only cared that they could at least work to patch their friendship up, that she wanted to try.

He smiled at her, happy for the chance. “You know.... I used to call girls my lady to try and find you.”

Marinette burst out laughing, covering her face with her free hand. And if that wasn’t a good sign, he didn’t know what was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its less than 1k but its something. sorry yall, not dead just depressed lol. its winter break so ill work on this hopefully im sorry yall


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